Oregon mayor finds a dead raccoon and a sign with a ‘racially hateful’ message outside office

An Oregon mayor was shocked to find a dead raccoon and a sign with ‘racially hateful’ language that mentioned the city’s first-ever black councilor outside his law office, police said.

Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch discovered the raccoon and the sign on Monday, the Redmond Police Department said in a news release. 

The sign mentioned Fitch and Redmond City Councilor Clifford Evelyn by name, police said.

Fitch called the sign’s language ‘racially hateful.’ He declined to elaborate on the exact message on the sign but told The Bulletin, ‘I feel bad for Clifford.’

‘It seems there’s some people in town that can’t accept the fact that Clifford is black and is on the City Council.’

Someone left a dead raccoon and a sign with ‘intimidating language’ that mentioned a black city councilor outside the law office of an Oregon mayor, police said

Police aren’t revealing the sign’s exact language in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation, city spokesperson Heather Cassaro said. 

Police said they are investigating the act as a potential second-degree bias crime.

Evelyn, a retired law enforcement officer who was elected to the council in 2021, described the act as a hate crime but said he has confidence in the police investigation, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

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Raccoon imagery has long been an insulting, anti-black caricature in the United States. 

With roots in slavery, it’s among ‘the most blatantly degrading of all Black stereotypes,’ according to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery in Michigan.

In recent years, a black Redmond teenager found a threatening message on her doorstep, while a failed Deschutes County Commission candidate displayed a Confederate flag at the city’s Fourth of July parade.

‘The people in this part of the country are just gonna have to catch up,’ Evelyn said. ‘It’s just the knuckleheads that can’t get on track. And they’re causing harm to everyone and making us look bad.’

Fitch is similarly resolving to continue on with business as usual after witnessing this. 

The sign mentioned Mayor Ed Fitch and Redmond City Councilor Clifford Evelyn (pictured) by name, police said

Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch found the raccoon and the sign on Monday, the Redmond Police Department said in a news release

‘I’m just not going to give in to cowards,’ he said. ‘It’s sad to see that people would do something like this because it’s not reflective of our community and the people who live here.’

Redmond Police Chief Devil Lewis said in a statement his department has ‘no tolerance for hate speech of any kind, against any person or group.’ 

‘We will work swiftly to resolve this case and seek to hold those who did this to our community responsible.’

‘We all know that our community is better than this, and we’ll move forward in that vein,’ Fitch added.