GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy characterized the Ku Klux Klan flag displayed in a Grosse Pointe Park home as despicable and traumatizing but not a crime under the law.
Under Michigan’s ethnic intimidation statute, it requires physical contact or damage and defacement to property. The flag has since been taken down after Grosse Pointe Park police went to the home.
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“The way the ethnic intimidation law is written in Michigan, there had to be contact,” said JeDonna Dinges, who lives next door. “He didn’t try to grab me or try to harm or deface my property, so all of the elements were not met, but that does not mean what he did was right because it was not.”
This issue started two weeks ago when the flag went up inside the neighbor’s home directly in front of Dinges’ dining room. The neighbor told police that the flag was put up because Dinges had a camera pointing into his home.
Dinges said she does have cameras but none are pointed in his home, rather the perimeter of her property after a full gas can was found in her recyclable bin.
“The silver lining in this has been a groundswell of support for me and my family,” she said.
Dinges has a women’s clothing boutique -- Margaux&Max in Ferndale. She said she has suddenly received negative google reviews even though she’s been closed since last March due to the pandemic.
“I’m not going to stop being who I am,” she said. “I can’t do anything about his heart but I can do something about mine and I’m not going to change who I am.”