“In Grand Haven there is an ugly undercurrent of racism and violence,”
At the last Grand Haven city council meeting resident Jane Stocker described some of what happened on May 26th, when a group of teenage boys went into Mirthy Emporium.
“Mirthy had a group of young teens come into her store, stole, vandalized and verbally attacked her with racial slurs.”
On a Facebook post Mirthy owner Leiko Bergers, who is black, said the teenagers hijacked her portable speaker and amplified the phrase “Heil Hitler” and the N word.
“We are aware of the incident.”
Public Safety Director Nichole Hudson says they know who the teenagers are and they are being dealt with.
“We have identified the subjects. We are going to let the criminal justice system work its way out.”
Councilman Mike Dora says there have been other incidents.
“Groups of youth in our downtown area creating problems in some other facilities as well.”
Which councilman Mike Fritz says is unacceptable.
“We are not going to accept this. What happened at Murthy is not Grand Haven.”
“We have road patrol that is well aware of the destruction being done downtown so be on the lookout for extra patrol. We will do whatever we can to make sure that everybody is treated equally in the city of Grand Haven.”
