Sarah Nigbor

My family has seen two sides of River Falls recently. One side is the all-American scene of summer fun and community pride. The other side is dark, frightening and disturbing.

My cousin was at Veterans Park in River Falls one evening with a friend. She has a lot of piercings, wears unique clothing and doesn’t look like your average teen. Some might say she dresses “Goth.” She and her friend, who were minding their own business hanging out in the park, were targeted by four young adults driving in a black Ford lifted pickup with tinted windows and a Trump flag in the back. They yelled at my cousin and her friend, calling them the N-word. As her dad said, the bigots are really showing their true colors these days. Funny thing is, she’s not even Black and was called the N-word. Not that being Black would justify it either. It’s an ugly word that should be stricken from the English language.

People have said, well, many kids these days listen to rap and hip hop artists who use that word freely. So what. I caught my son listening to that crap and you can bet he got a tongue lashing.   

My cousin is beautiful inside and out. She has a heart of gold. She is kind, intelligent, creative and funny. The fact that this happened to her makes me so angry. This type of behavior from anyone directed at anyone should make all of us angry. Yet some people condone it. Why is it okay to target and bully people different from you?

Some may think we’re overreacting, that “kids will be kids.” I disagree. Silence is complicity. If we do not call out this type of behavior, it will continue. It wasn’t okay 30 years ago and it shouldn’t be okay now. Especially now, when we should all know better.

A family friend, who is gay, has been called a fag by other kids their age. Those same kids come from families that consider themselves devout Christians. I wonder if they learned to call other people fags in Sunday School? Of course they didn’t, but you can appreciate the irony. Another girl in our community, who has religious parents who post Bible verses on their social media feeds frequently, told my daughter and her friends they should just “kill themselves.” Jesus reached out to the sick, the outcasts, those in society who were considered sinners. He helped children, the poor, the diseased. He treated everyone like a member of God’s family. That is what kids are taught in Sunday School, but for many, adults included, that doesn’t appear to have sunk in.

All these thoughts were running through my head as I watched the River Falls Days parade Friday evening. The smiling faces, laughing children, waving flags, upbeat music. It was the ultimate small-town, wholesome atmosphere. It was the River Falls I’ve always known, my hometown. A stark contrast to the scene that unfolded in Veterans Park a few nights prior, when ugliness, foul mouths and fear reigned. And from others’ accounts, this is not the first time this truck of teens has gone after people.

I myself am a Christian. I know that most Christians, at least I hope, would be mortified if they knew the ugly things their children have said or done. I hope these parents can hold their children accountable and teach them right from wrong. I hope we can all have the courage, if we witness something like this, to call it out as wrong. Don’t stand by and let it happen. Nothing will change with inaction.

The River Falls I saw during the parade is the River Falls I want it to be – for everyone. And that goes for every community.