“Hi there Billy, I am the one that took your sign,” began Zahra Ashe-Simmer’s open letter to a Northampton community Facebook page where she sparked nearly 1,000 comments about a controversial yard sign commissioned by Northampton resident Billy Park.

Park, a white resident of an affluent Northampton neighborhood, reported a week earlier to the same Facebook page that the sign was stolen from his front yard. In Park’s Facebook post, we see the sign that depicts a white man wearing a Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” hat hugging a faceless “Black Lives Matter” activist. The Trump supporter on the sign is in tears hugging the activist. This humanizes Trump’s platform of racism and white supremacy. The activist is instead painted faceless and dehumanized.

Ashe-Simmer acted to prevent the public display of this offensive sentiment. Northampton community members commented on Ashe-Simmer’s post, expressing four general viewpoints: first, that the minor property crime is far worse than the racist sign; second, that the sign is not racist because it presents a delusional fantasy where oppressor and oppressed can unite as humans; third, those who supported Ashe-Simmer’s intervention; and fourth, a series of personal attacks against her.

The second group tended to cite Park’s claim that the sign was designed by black artist Jamar Pierre, and therefore could not be racist. The same Facebook thread eventually revealed that Park had commissioned the design to Pierre, and was therefore tokenizing a black voice to justify his argument.

While many united in defense of Ashe-Simmer, a majority of other community members, and even local news outlets, missed the mark in their interpretation and chose instead to praise Park for his tone-deaf approach to unity in the midst of a historic moment for the Black Lives Matter movement. The MAGA hat represents a platform built on racism and divisiveness, making Park’s sign an offensive smoke screen over violent polarization. His ownership of the sign and property should not grant him the privilege to promote racism denial in the public sphere.

Ashe-Simmer’s action and the following conversation acknowledge how far from united we are.

Emilia H. Tamayo

Northampton