THE FOLLOWING IS A TRN MEDIA EDITORIAL COMMENT
This submission was written by Executive Vice President and Owner, Adrienne Hintz.
A Green River High School student recently found a racial slur and a hate symbol drawn into the dirt on the hood of his car. This high school student is my son. We shouldn’t have to explain in detail how wrong it is for a high school student to face this kind of casual hate. We shouldn’t have to express how disappointed we are with members of the community feeling free to express such disgusting ideas.
The image appearing with this post comes from my son’s car and the hateful word and imagery drawn in the dust targets his friend. If we’re seeing personal and racially-motivated attacks like this ourselves, how common is it in our community?
Unfortunately, this doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Groups who align with a white supremacist agenda have slowly raised their heads in Sweetwater County. It started with tiny stickers anonymously placed in visible places advertising chat groups aiming to “keep Wyoming white” or groups with neonazi ties. This grew to embolden certain people to place signboards along busy streets and in neighborhoods. They’ve spray painted visible areas to promote themselves to like-minded individuals. And now we’re seeing racially-motivated bullying trickle into our schools.
It’s hard to imagine that in 2025, we’re making a plea for more tolerance and urging people to stand up to racially-charged ignorance. It’s hard to imagine that we’re calling out the ignorant ideas of racial superiority decades after those thoughts should have been burned and buried. It’s time we all come to an understanding that racism has no place here and dedicate ourselves to call it out when we see it.
The fact is, there is no room for hate in our community. There is enough division in our country as it is. This instance should, under no circumstances, be one we are divided on. We will not tolerate hate crimes, and neither should you.
Al Harris, my dad, my son’s papa, and a huge supporter of my son’s friend, is putting up $10,000 to anyone who can lead the authorities to the person who wrote on my son’s car. No questions asked.
