Hate crime against White man

2010 - A Chattanooga man claims he was the victim of a hate crime this weekend in the Churchville neighborhood where he lives. An unusual hate crime he's says is fueled by the fact that he is white.

For four years, R.D. Flowers has lived in a small apartment on Cleveland Ave., but in the last month, he says he's been the target of harrassment that culminated this weekend in what he calls a hate crime.

"Somebody put a lot of hateful speech on my truck, telling me 'get out of my hood', something that I suppose was someone's attempt to spell 'cracker' and a five letter B-word on the windshield."

Flowers is one of the few whites in his neighborhood, which he says is the reason for the recent treatment.

"I've been here four years before any of my neighbors were. I had a neighbor threatening me since I was the only white person in the area. He came out, he thought I was taking over, that this should be all black."

Chattanooga Police investigated the incident and filed a report.

"I just pointed it out to him and he said this is a hate crime. This is the first one I've investigated so they are increasing with the patrols, they're going to keep more of a watch on the area."

Flowers says he doesn't understand the treatment.

"You see my daughter, I am not a racist. My daughter has a black mother, you see all the bumper stickers, the Obama bumper stickers on my truck. Me and her both spent two weekends in North Carolina working for his election. I'm a Martin Luther King, Jr. follower, I believe people are known by the content of their character, not by the shade of their skin."

He hopes new hate crimes legislation will put the harrassment to an end.

"If anybody should know better, it's people who have experienced it because of having dark skin. This is possibly going to get some federal heat now because of the hate crime designation, and I hope it does."