Auburn, N.Y. — Nothing about it looked right to Nairobi Smith and her wife, Liz Jorolemon, as they drove home Thursday just before dusk.
A man was cutting the zip ties that held up a large banner that declared “All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter.”
The banner was in front of Westminster Presbyterian Church, which was founded by abolitionists more than 150 years ago. Harriet Tubman married her second husband in the church’s original building, according to the church’s historical record.
This summer, that banner had been there for days. Until Thursday evening.
“I don’t think he’s with the church,” Smith said to her wife. She stopped, turned around and pulled over. “It just didn’t seem OK.”
As the guy stuffed the banner into his backpack, Smith called 911. Jorolemon reached out to the Rev. Patrick Heery, the pastor at Westminster.
Within a couple of hours, the banner was back at the church and in the pastor’s hands.
“And I’m like, stunned,” Heery said today.
In the end, the theft became a small part of this story. The vandalism was overshadowed by community. Neighbors looked after each other. A police officer acted swiftly.
And a pastor forgave.
“It speaks both to the call for justice as well as the need for hope, to see people from different aspects of our community coming together to unite and proclaiming that Black lives matter,” Heery said.
“And to express forgiveness.”
Westminster Presbyterian Church was founded in 1861 by a group of abolitionists who broke from another local church. It’s continued its activism today, supporting LGBTQ rights and fostering conversations and action meant to tackle systemic racism, Heery says.
There are some Black Lives Matter signs around Auburn, a Finger Lakes city of about 26,000 with 85% white people. But Heery said he thinks Westminster is the only church that’s posted a sign, which sits in front of the church on Williams Street across from city hall.
Heery said he is white, and he has a son who is 2 and is biracial. “I’m also doing this as a pastor and a dad,” he said.
The church where Heery’s pastored for four years has mostly white members. The church’s leaders met in early June and agreed to put up the sign. It cost $300.
Some people in the area welcomed the sign, he said. Others, mostly on social media, pushed back. “That’s where you get people coming up with great opposition to Black Lives Matter,” he said. “Sometimes it’s overt racism, sometimes misunderstanding.”
In recent weeks, protests against police brutality in Auburn have drawn hundreds, Heery said, including police officers and law enforcement leaders. At a march in late May, Auburn Police Chief Shawn Butler took a knee alongside marchers.
Smith and Jorolemon aren’t members at Westminster, but they live nearby. “We drive by that church every day,” Smith said.
That’s why the guy cutting the zip ties caught their eye. Smith called 911 at 8:30 p.M. And described what she saw: a white guy, in his 50s in a ball cap, with a backpack. He was cutting down the banner and stuffing it into his bag.
By the time they registered the call with 911 and got home, Heery returned their call. He went to the church and called the police’s non-emergency line.
“I figured this guy is long gone,” Heery said.
Instead, he was told that an officer was on his way to return the banner. Officer Benjamin Caruso pulled up to the church, walked in (wearing a mask), and delivered a carefully folded banner.
Heery said the officer heard the call about the theft and found a man matching the description nearby. The officer told Heery the man was drunk, the pastor said.
Caruso got the banner back from the man, Deputy Chief Roger Anthony confirmed today.
When the officer handed it over, he asked Heery what should happen next.
Heery considered. The banner had a few scrapes on it. But it was back. “I thought about it for a moment and I said, we’re not going to press charges,” he said.
No one was charged in the theft, Anthony confirmed.
That Thursday night, the officer started to leave the church. Heery stopped him. “I wanted him to know that while we proclaim Black lives matter, we want you to know that doesn’t mean your life as a police officer doesn’t matter,” the pastor said.
The officer thanked them. And then the two men, both wearing masks, ended up having a long talk.
“It’s really personal,” Heery said today of addressing racism. “My 2-year-old son is black.”
Right now, Heery said, people say his son is cute. In about 10 years, “maybe sooner,” he added, some people may see him as a threat.
“Part of the reason I’m doing this is to protect him,” he said. “I want him to be loved and respected.”
The church rehung the banner Friday morning.
“It was down about 12 hours,” he said. “If it happens again and we don’t get it back, we’ll find a way to get the message back up. We won’t be silent.”
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