Dear editor:
I recently experienced something that I never hope to witness again. I live in the village of Ortonville and was working outside in my yard. The neighboring home that has been empty for some time has recently been taken over by a bank. The bank, in turn, hired a company to clean up the interior, yard, and piles of debris littering the property. Three African-American gentlemen showed up to complete the work and were polite, hard working, and nothing but professional. They worked hard in and out of the house all day, minding to the job they had been assigned. As I was in my front yard planting flowers, a maroon Pontiac Fiero passed by with two young men inside. As the car slowly rolled by, one of the individuals yelled out the window to these gentlemen, ‘keep working ni…ers.? I froze, horrified, afraid to look at the faces of these men standing near me. One of the gentlemen instantly headed for his truck to react, but stopped himself. I, embarrassed, asked the man if what I heard was correct. He said that it was nothing that he should get upset over, and headed back to work. I immediately apologized for the ignorance of the young men. I started to ask them not to think this is what the village of Ortonville is about, but realized the damage had been done by that one word.
I believe in my community and hope that this incidence was isolated to the ignorance of two young men that had no idea the weight of the word they carelessly flung out their car window. I hope that all who read this editorial will be as enraged as I was. I hope that the two young men understand that using that word not only insulted these hard-working men, but to those men from the clean up company, Ortonville will forever be thought of as a racist, small-minded town.
The maroon Fiero , you know who you are; the only intolerance Ortonville has is for your ignorance.
Heidi Barckholtz
Ortonville