kkk flag
A Ku Klux Klan flies during a Klan demonstration.
John Moore/Getty Images
  • Police in Michigan bought a man brand new curtains after responding to a report about hanging a KKK flag on his window toward his Black neighbor’s home. 
  • His girlfriend told local detectives he hung up the flag because he could not afford curtains, The Washington Post reported. 
  • JeDonna Dinges noticed the flag facing her Grosse Pointe Park home last month.
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The man who displayed a racist KKK flag on his window facing his Black neighbor’s home received brand new curtains from police after his girlfriend told authorities he couldn’t afford them, according to The Washington Post. 

JeDonna Dinges’ ex-husband discovered that her neighbor hung up a KKK “Invisible Empire” flag on their window visible from her Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, home on February 16, the report said. 

“I said, I know there’s not a klan sign in the window next door,” Dinges told FOX 2 last month. “And I opened the curtains, and I looked, and sure enough, there was a klan sign in the window next door.”

Dinges did not feel comfortable calling the police. According to The Post, after failed attempts to seek help from the Michigan attorney general’s office and FBI, she received help from local news. 

After a local reporter from WDIV-TV contacted city officials about this incident, local detectives finally arrived at Dinges’ neighbor’s home to tell them to remove the flag, the newspaper reported. 

Dinges previously told FOX 2 that detectives said the neighbors hung up the flag after she installed a camera on the side of her home, which was placed there as a security precaution after she found a full gas can in her waste bin a few weeks before.

The neighbor told detectives that they did not ask her about the camera because they said they're "non-confrontational people," Dinges told FOX 2. 

And as The Post reported, the neighbor's girlfriend told detectives that he put up the flag because he could not afford to buy curtains.

According to the report, the neighbors eventually removed the flag, and police provided the neighbor with brand new curtains. 

"It's comical. You can afford a Klan flag, but you can't afford curtains?" Dinges told The Post. "He does this awful thing, and you give him a gift with my tax dollars."

Grosse Pointe Park Police did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. 

Dinges told The Post that she does not feel safe in her own home. Her situation has sparked outrage from local officials and organizations condemning racism and hate crimes in the community. Grosse Pointe Park residents even marched in solidarity with Dinges at a rally in February, the Michigan Advance reported. 

 

However, the Wayne County Prosecutors Office said the unidentified 31-year-old man was not charged for the incident. 

"There is absolutely no question that what happened to Ms. Dinges was despicable, traumatizing, and completely unacceptable," prosecuting attorney, Kym Worthy, said in a statement Tuesday. "But, very unfortunately in my view, not a crime. The KKK flag, while intending to be visible to Ms. Dinges, was hanging inside of her neighbor's house."

Worthy continued: "We could not even begin to charge Ethnic Intimidation under current Michigan law. I strongly encourage the Michigan Legislature to look, revise, and create laws to protect citizens from this kind of horrible conduct."

Read the original article on Insider