by daleamn on Mon Jan 18, 2021 12:00 pm
Cross burning.
Interesting note and maybe a spoiler alert for readers of John Sandford aka John Camp the Twin Cities detective novelist.
In one of his books (The Hanged Man's Song) one of the "good guys" is murdered. The hero of the book finds the guy murdered in his house, no one else knows about the murder yet. He wants to alert the police but the victim is a relatively poor black guy with no connections and the hero is utterly certain the local police will not put any kind of priority on this case at all. The hero really wants the full efforts of law enforcement to look into the murder of his friend with all the resources they have at their disposal. How to get this murder to be a priority? He goes over to the home improvement store, buys some supplies, 2x4's, shop rags, kerosene, shovel, hammer, nails etc. then goes back to the murdered guys house, hammers together a cross, puts it up in the front lawn and sets it on fire. The poor guy's murder is suddenly the number one priority of the local police, the FBI etc., etc., etc.
John Sandford is one of my favorite authors.