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Title: Defeated, Beverly man makes no apologies for racist signs (Chicago)
Source:
southtownstar.com
URL Source: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2096235,031110race.article
Published: Mar 11, 2010
Author: Casey Cora
Post Date: 2010-03-12 20:03:37 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 181
Comments: 10
Mike Corrigan doesn't want to be anybody's villain or a neighborhood hero. He's just a guy who wants to see his West Beverly neighborhood packed with white people and no one else. "What's so wrong with that?" he said. Corrigan, 62, drew protests and television camera crews to the front yard of his Chicago home Wednesday after the racially charged messages he's had tacked along a fence in his back yard attracted widespread attention. The signs read, "Say no to the ghetto," "White power" and "Mt. Greenwood - the next Englewood." A smaller sticker read, "White Pride Worldwide," and a tiny noose hung from the soffit of his garage. He believes a real estate agent for the empty home next store lodged complaints with police because the messages were posted in sight of the vacant home's back yard, likely making the home a hard sell. Corrigan said he's trying desperately to prevent black people from becoming his neighbors. But he covered the stickers up with a piece of blue tarp early Wednesday, ending his nearly yearlong campaign for neighborhood racial purity. He pledged to keep them covered up until he removes the plexiglass paneling the stickers are posted on later this spring. (The panels protect his white German sheperd Gunther from the elements.) On Wednesday morning, an impromptu protest from an African-American group erupted in Corrigan's yard as news crews looked on. Corrigan stayed inside with his two cats, Mordecai and Hannah. By midafternoon he found himself explaining the ordeal to Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th), who left city hall and stopped by the home in the 9900 block of Fairfield Avenue for an approximately 30-minute chat. "It's embarrassing for the community, and it's offensive," she said. Rugai said Corrigan would not be charged with a crime because the messages were on private property and protected under free speech laws. Despite the makeup of the area - with its tree-lined streets, children pedaling bikes and moms pushing strollers - Corrigan, 62, remains concerned that more houses on the block will "go black," and that crime won't be far behind. Many neighbors thought Corrigan took his message too far and that his prejudice was unwarranted. But he may have some support. Corrigan was praised from passers-by, many of whom honked their horns and stuck their thumbs up from their car windows. One neighbor even offered to pick up Corrigan something from the liquor store. Others drove by hoping to get a glimpse of the signs that caused so much ire. "Maybe what I did wasn't the most tactful way to do it," Corrigan said. "I just want this thing to go away. I've made my point."
Poster Comment: Where the hell did that post-racial America go??
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#3. To: X-15 (#0)
Good deal. Glad I don't have a hater and baiter like this old fool living in my 'hood.
Weasel You're not fit to shine that man's shoes
i was trying to think of all the exclusive, gated, predominantly black neighborhoods, but all i could come up with was barbed wire an slums.
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#4. To: Ferret, Mike the Weasel (#3)
Glad I don't have a hater and baiter
#5. To: Flintlock (#4)
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