'I cried for a long time': Black hair stylist's dream crushed by racist neighbor

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) Angel Pittman’s dream was to create a mobile hair salon. So the 21-year-old stylist bought less than an acre of unrestricted land in North Carolina for $10,000 in September and purchased three school buses for $14,000 with money she had saved since she was 17.

“I’ve never seen anybody driving around doing people’s hair,” she said. “But not only did I want to get paid for doing hair, but I wanted to drive around, do a couple of homeless people’s hair and maybe go to some prisons and help incarcerated people.”

Pittman’s plan was to place the buses on the land, transform one into a living space, and turn the other two into mobile salons. She could do hair on her property, set up shop in different locations, or do house calls.

....(snip)....

About a week after closing, on 23 September, she returned with her mom to drop off the buses. This time, she said, the man approached them and asked, “‘Why are you guys here? Are y’all looking for shade?’”

Rowan county, which is 79% white and 17% Black, is a “sundown town”, a Jim Crow era term used to reference overwhelmingly white neighborhoods known for racial segregation. Katherine Mellen Charron, a history professor at North Carolina State University, said sundown areas remain prevalent in places like Rowan county to limit homeownership from Black Americans. (The Jim Crow saying was, N-word, “don’t let the sun go down on you in this town”.)

....(snip)....

She then noticed her buses had been vandalized. The glass windows were broken. Racial slurs were etched. The man prominently displayed Confederate flags, swastikas and KKK signs all over his yard, which Pittman said weren’t there when she previously visited the plot. ..................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/21/north-carolina-racism-stylist-driven-from-her-land-white-neighbor

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[TuxedoKat]

2. A Link to her GoFundMe

I hope she can raise enough to achieve her goals.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hate-crime-victimhelp-move-me-to-a-safe-place

[KS Toronado]

7. Thanks for the link

Hope she raises enough money to buy the whole town out from under them.

[Delphinus]

31. Me too!

[Lochloosa]

35. 81K raised of 80K goal ....she has.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

44. now at 91K

[SheltieLover]

37. Me too, KS!

[mountain grammy]

13. Thanks for that..

[Demovictory9]

16. Donated

[Sky Jewels]

50. Woohoo! It's over $100,000!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

54. excellent

[badhair77]

3. A devastating account.

I hope she finds a new start in a safer place.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. When I saw the OP title I thought to myself

"she must be young". And sure enough.

Welcome to America dear (even if you have been here for multiple generations)!

This is why my mother would always say she refused to go below the Mason-Dixon line. And this is considering how it's bad enough here as it is when it comes to where you are "allowed to be".

[raising2moredems]

39. My sentiments too..

I've visited a few relatives (who weren't racists) but they've since passed. I'll no longer visit there, travel there, or live there. Years ago I told a recruiter I lived as far south in the US as I ever would. I'm near Chicago and said recruiter got the hint.

[BumRushDaShow]

46. I have/had relatives in MD, VA, TN, KY, FL, GA and AL (as well as TX)

and there moves there were usually due to college attendance or jobs there and/or spouses from there, and/or a cheaper cost of living versus here in the Philly area and north. They have found blue enclaves to live in but you can't help but see what rings their communities.

[Ray Bruns]

5. I call BS on this story because John Roberts said discrimination doesn't exist anymore in America.

[mountain grammy]

12. And he is the KING after all

or at least he believes he is.. the six royal asshole conservatives who wish to conserve nothing but white supremacy.

[calimary]

15. John Roberts is a Supreme Court Chief Disappointment.

[KS Toronado]

6. " Confederate flags, swastikas and KKK signs "

"religious right" what an oxymoron

?671

[Sky Jewels]

18. I noticed the Christian statue next to the KKK statue.

How very fitting.

[KS Toronado]

22. There was 2 KKK statues

and that ignorant MAGAt can't see the hypocrisy.

[Traildogbob]

8. Born and raised

In Rowan County. Thank God the Navy got me out of there. All the people I know from there are trump Christian’s. I NEVER go there. As Class Pres and Football captain I keep getting invites to speak at Reunions. Tried one time after trump was elected in 2016. I had to bite my tongue off. Screw that place and screw them all. Do not ever go near there, it’s infected with white hate. Backed by Jesus.

[Beakybird]

9. I donated a paltry $5 at the GoFundMe. WTF 😡

[Shipwack]

10. Don't be so hard on yourself... You gave something at least.

I'm going over there now to donate the same amount, because money is tight for me right now.

But if everyone who read this tragic story did the same, she'd make her goal in no time.

[Beakybird]

11. Thanks for giving too ☺️. I'm glad I can give something.

[markodochartaigh]

20. I saw your post and

stretched my pension to give $5 as well. If there were no drops of water there would be no ocean.

[Delphinus]

36. Oh my ...

Your last sentence If there were no drops of water there would be no ocean put such a huge smile on my heart. Thank you.

[Carlitos Brigante]

23. But you donated. Better to help someone build than destroy, like a certain

bag of shit in NC.

[Skittles]

33. ?

that's the whole point of GFM, a lot of small donations to create a big one - ANY amount helps

[irisblue]

40. Beakybird, you gave diamonds and gold.

Much respect

[Lilaclady]

14. So very sad

We lived in Salisbury in the 80s and 90s having moved from NY. Even then I was asked if I was a Yankee or a Damn Yankee, the difference being that Damn Yankees stay. Cary, NC was called Containment Area for Retired Yankees. Shopping at a drug store, one worker stated she’d rather be a dog than a Yankee. All this said with a smile. The town of Faith in Rowan County was known as a “sundown town”.

[Demovictory9]

17. I hope the old racist drops dead. Soon

[Sky Jewels]

19. I wouldn't be surprised if his address gets out and circulates on the internet.

I'd sleep with one eye open if I were him.

[Aristus]

21. A little whitewashing going on there.

“Sundown town” doesn’t just mean the town is segregated. It means the white filth that live there will murder you with impunity if you’re black and staying there after dark.

Nice of them to gloss that over…

[treestar]

25. she bought land right next to this white guy

so there is some desegregation. Also, she has criminal charges she can press. Geez people, fight back, the weight of history is now on her side. Even in such towns as that.

[progressoid]

30. deputies at the scene immediately brushed it off, telling her, "Oh, yeah, they do that all the time

Seeing the vandalism, and afraid her land and buses could’ve been wired with bombs or bear traps, she called the police. When the Rowan county sheriff’s office deputies arrived, Pittman and her parents reported what they saw as a hate crime. But the deputies at the scene immediately brushed it off, telling her, “Oh, yeah, they do that all the time,” Pittman said. “The police talked to us for a little bit but they didn’t do anything. They just wrote a report and that was it.”

In an interview with the Guardian, one of the sheriff’s captains, Mark McDaniel, said the officers who went to the scene knew the elderly man and did “observe the damage … the broken windows [and] the stuff that was spray painted on”.

When asked about recourse for the attack, McDaniel said the incident happened before he started at the office. However, he said according to the report filed by the deputies, there is no indication it was a targeted attack because the neighbor always had white supremacy signs displayed.

I think the weight of history is still siding the assholes.

[treestar]

41. ask the DA to bring the charges

vandalism is still vandalism. The police don't get to brush it off. They did a report. Or sue the bastard. Why is it better to insist on victimhood?

[quakerboy]

43. Article addresses that

They have no hard evidence that it was him. No video, no witnesses. Common sense, but thats not court admissible as far as I know.

Id be inclined to rebuild, but with plenty of video cameras. But thats me and I come from a place of relative privilege. I get why someone would just want out.. Extreme damage to ones possessions and a guy with a gun glaring at you constantly is not a situation that would make one feel safe, nor be conducive to building a business or life.

[treestar]

47. innocent until proven guilty

applies to him. If it doesn't, it would not apply to anyone else either, or only based on the whim of power.

[quakerboy]

52. You were the one suggesting

that the police "dont get to brush it off".

[treestar]

53. the police have to assume innocent too

but they start a case with probable cause. Still the person is innocent throughout their dealing with the police.

One can go directly to the deputy attorney general with a case. They are the only ones that can brush it off. But why would they do that? Because you are cynical about everyone's motives where they don't coincide 100% with yours?

[quakerboy]

55. You seem to demand it both ways

I hope you have a great day.

[Jokerman]

24. "unrestricted land"

Maybe she should rent it to someone who raises hogs.

[LuvLoogie]

26. I have no common ground with people like this man

I do not pity him. I have no concerns for his economic anxiety and grievances. I hope that within my daughters' lifetimes that these fucks die out to an insignificant number.

[llashram]

28. they have passed

this hate onto their children. Proof? Racism of this type is still Rosewood strong in America. I hope this young woman rises and conquers the racist(s). By any means necessary and/or available.

[ZonkerHarris]

27. I've been jabbing the Rowan County SD on Facebook about this.

[tiredtoo]

29. Well, you all talked me into donating my measly $5 also

I also shared to my facebook page.

[Schmice3]

32. This is truly what we are

[FakeNoose]

34. K&R she's already reached her GFM goal!

[AdamGG]

38. Sounds like a good lawsuit against the Klansman neighbor...

but he probably doesn't have much worth taking.

[Samrob]

42. Haters keep making their enemies rich. Maybe they hate enough to stop? Being dumb and hateful.

[mrsadm]

45. If the neighbor already displayed white supremacy signs

She should have known not to move next door. She’s young and naïve but it would have been better if someone advised her.

[The Jungle 1]

48. They all go to church every Sunday and tell us what great Christians they are.

No wonder Christianity is crashing in the USA. Apparently there are not Christians.

[Hotler]

49. She should put up a sign....

April 9, 1865
Never Forget

In Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 Confederate troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War

[panader0]

51. I went to Willamette University in Salen, Or. as a freshman and had a black roommate. (1968)

I was amazed to learn that Salem had been a sundown town well into the 20th century.
When we walked downtown together, people would slow down, roll down their windows and
call me "n****r lover". I was shocked and learned a great deal about race that year. Vic and I
were best friends that year.