Antioch Mayor Wade Harper, center, is joined by all four members of the Antioch City Council, other community leaders including representatives of the faith community and the NAACP at a Thursday afternoon press conference about the hate crime in Antioch, on Wednesday morning.
By Allen Payton
At a late Thursday afternoon press conference in the Antioch City Council Chambers, Antioch Mayor Wade Harper was joined by faith and community leaders to speak out and denounce the hate crime against an African-American family that occurred in the city, early Wednesday morning. All four council members were in attendance.
“We are here because a terrible crime that happened in the City of Antioch,” said Harper.
He said he looked for a word of comfort and found a scripture verse, which he quoted, Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, oh man. He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”
“And we didn’t see that the other day,” Harper continued. “We didn’t see justice. We didn’t see kindness. And we saw no humility in that terrible act that was committed.”
“While there are great things happening in Antioch and great people that come out of the city of Antioch, we’re not here to talk about that, today,” he said. “We’re here to take a stand, as a city, as a city council against the horrendous hate crime that occurred in the city, yesterday about 3:00 a.m.”
“An unknown person wrote racial slurs, a swastika and threw a flammable device onto the house, setting a portion of the house on fire,”Harper stated.
“This does not happen in Antioch and this will not be allowed to happen in Antioch.” “I want you to be clear about that. That our entire city council stands against that, our entire police department and our entire community stands against that.”
“My first reaction was anger and frustration that this type of crime could occur in the city…where we’re raising our children and grandchildren.,” Harper stated.
It seems that when we see a decline in violence in Antioch, and we’re on the right track, something like this happens bringing to our attention that our work is not done, yet.”
“I know the investigation is continuing. We’re not here to talk about that and we definitely will not interfere with any investigation.”
“While every city has crime, in Antioch our faith will not be shaken by this incident. The greatness of our city…lies in our people. So we will come together as a city of Antioch, as a community. We will not be in fear. We will not be victimized. If you don’t have a Neighborhood Watch program… in your neighborhood, start one. If you don’t know your neighbor, meet them.
He spoke of his conversation with Ms. Williams, the woman of the family that was victimized.
“I stopped by her house I found out my entire city council had stopped by her house and showed her concern and I told her that the residents of Antioch could show her way more love than one person could show her hate.”
“She said she would not attend this conference but she said she wanted to let the community know, that one bad seed does not destroy her faith in Antioch. She wanted to thank the community for reaching out to her and let everyone know she’s going to be OK.”
“I spoke with representatives of the District Attorney’s office. They are aware of this incident and they take this type of crime, seriously.”
He thanked the representatives of the various elected officials, including Assemblyman Jim Frazier and Congressman Jerry McNerney.
“This is an effort of the entire community,” Harper added. “We are coming together and we are standing firm and saying Antioch is a great city. We are not going to tolerate this. We are not going to let this happen.”
Pastor Chris Williams of the Church at Antioch spoke, next.
“I stand as a part of and representative of the faith community,” he said. “It’s very important and yet significant to realize that the very place of Antioch, historically and biblically is the place where they were first called Christians. That would suggest that they pattern their lives after Christ and after the principles of God, meaning that God is love. And the reality is love is bigger than any religion, love is bigger than any denomination.
“So we come, today to stand with this city, with this mayor, with law enforcement with all of the concerned citizens of Antioch, to as faith based leaders, offer our support, and yet our desire to cause the city of Antioch to be a place that is characteristic of that first, historic city a place of love,” said Williams, who is not related to the family who are the victims.
He said he wanted to “shower the Williams’ family with love to conquer the hate.”
Charles Glasper, representing the East County Branch of the NAACP spoke next.
“Hate crimes in our community will not be tolerated,” he stated. “We will stand united. This appears to be a hate crime of the most egregious nature. This bias not only terrorizes the intended victims but it terrorizes our community, as well.”
“However, today our community will stand together in peaceful coexistence and we will prevail,” Glasper said.
“Members of the East County Branch of the NAACP have been in touch with the Chief of Police of the Antioch Police Department. We have been assured that this matter is one of the department’s top priorities.”
“The NAACP wants to assure the Williams’ family and the community that we will continue to follow up with law enforcement to ensure that that all is being done to swiftly bring any and all perpetrators to justice. Thank you.”
Harper then thanked more of those in attendance, including other pastors and elected officials.
“Let’s stand together in unity,” he concluded.
Then Harper opened it up for questions.
The first one was about the video that the police have.
“Is this somebody’s home video?”
Harper responded that he would refer that to the police department.
“I’m not prepared to talk about their investigation and will leave that to them,” he said.
When asked if he considered murder a more serious crime and about the 35 murders since he was elected mayor, Harper responded “This is not a political event.”
When asked if he had ever had a press conference on the murders for the families of those victims, he ended the press conference and responded, “Thank you very much.”
Asked the same question again and with “yes or no?” Harper repeatedly responded with “Thank you very much.”
Two of Harper’s opponents in the Mayor’s race were unable to attend.
However, before the press conference when asked for comment, Gil Murillo said the “Mayor should have been with our Chief at yesterday’s press conference. Luckily our Chief has a community behind him.”
His other opponent, Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock was in attendance but didn’t speak at the press conference. Earlier in the day she said “I believe as leaders of our community/city [we] need to stand together. This is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.”
Dr. Sean Wright commented after the press conference that “The hate crime was despicable and doesn’t represent the residents of Antioch.”
By Sergeant Tom Fuhrmann, Antioch Police Investigations Bureau
