Interracial Tennessee family house burned down in hate crime

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Hate thrives even during the holiday season.

On November 1, 2021 the Mays family was on vacation enjoying some time off. Meanwhile, back in Ripley, Tennessee, someone was spraying painting “ni**er lover” on their home and setting it on fire. According to a CNN report, by the time a neighbor called the fire department and they arrived on the scene, all was lost.

Over a year later, the near-homeless family still has no information about who ruined their lives and they aren’t impressed by the police department’s effort to find out.

If he were a White man, this would have been settled in 2015 when he says the harassment originally began, Mays said. “They did not go after anybody. They didn’t try. They didn’t want me out there,” Mays said.

The message was aimed squarely at Alan Mays’ wife (he is Black and she is white) and he says that they have been targeted with racist attacks for years prior to the arson. They have documented incidents of break-ins and people coming to their property to yell racist slurs.

Neither the local police nor the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have been forthcoming with information. Mays says the last time he spoke to either law enforcement outfit was in April. Compounding the Mays’ frustration is the fact that Tennessee law restricts authorities from labeling an incident a “hate crime” until a suspect has been named.

That law is stupid as f**k. Ray Charles, Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder, and Denzel Washington’s character from Book of Eli can all see that this is a hate crime. The family is traumatized to the point of medication and sleep deprivation. They are also on the brink of homelessness as the insurance company will cease paying their rent at a nearby apartment complex soon.

“So, what am I gonna do? I’m a nervous wreck. I haven’t slept in two nights, okay, because I don’t know what to do,” Mays told CNN. “I’m lost … I’ve done everything I could do. I did everything the right way.”

‘Merica be ‘Merica’ing.