ARLINGTON — Pastor Jason Martin wants to put out the fire.
Two days after he awoke to a flaming cross in his front yard, Martin is praying that the symbol of hate will unite Arlington against racism and ignorance.
"You either put oil on the fire and cause it to burn, or you put water on the fire and put it out. I’m getting calls from angry people, and I want to put those fires out," said Martin, 38. "Arlington needs to come together and use this as an opportunity for change."
The cross burning is the latest and worst sign that "we have a problem," he said.
He sees the need for change in his singed grass, in the student he says told his 17-year-old son last year "I’ll blow up your house," and in racist graffiti scrawled on a wall in the high school gym in spring 2003.
It’s also in the tire tracks across his yard, damage he initially didn’t believe was racially motivated, and in a swastika police say was scratched into an unrelated person’s car on March 4.
"Arlington is getting a stigma of being a racist community, and it’s not a racist community at all," Martin said. "I still enjoy the community and plan on staying there and raising my family."
The cross burning, believed to be the first in Arlington’s history, outraged the city.
A candlelight vigil is planned, Arlington High School students talked about what happened in class Thursday, and the Arlington Rotary Club raised $245 for a reward fund to help catch the person responsible.
Laura Mills, who owns Shear’s Styling Salon in downtown Arlington, sent Martin a bouquet of red roses.
"I wanted him to know that what happened did not represent Arlington," she said. "He needs to see that other people really do care about his family and we welcome and embrace him."
Martin, his wife, Charmaine, and six of their children moved to Arlington from Marysville a year and a half ago. The Martins are among the few black families in the upscale golf course community of Gleneagle in south Arlington.
Of Arlington’s 11,713 residents, 132 identified themselves as black in the 2000 U.S. census. An additional 61 people said they were black in combination with another race. That’s about 1.6 percent of Arlington’s population.
The percentage is close to Snohomish County as a whole. The census reported that 1.7 percent of people in the county are black.
Arlington’s schools reflect the city’s census numbers. Of the 5,306 students in the district, 63, or 1.2 percent, are black.
Martin says the district hasn’t done enough to educate students about diversity. His son, he said, has endured racial slurs and threats and has considered switching schools.
"There’s been some steps toward resolving it, but it’s not enough," he said.
Police are investigating whether the cross burning is connected to the incidents at Arlington High School. But Chief John Gray and school officials say it’s too early to say whether students were involved.
Lt. Brian DeWitt of the Arlington Police Department said no suspects have been identified, but the department has received dozens of leads. The FBI is also investigating.
Arlington School District Superintendent Linda Byrnes said she hadn’t sensed that tensions were simmering at the high school.
"There is a group of individuals who are self-proclaimed racists, although it’s very small," Byrnes said.
Some are students, others not. Byrnes hesitated to guess how many there are, but said they seemed only loosely organized.
"What is a little different than before is they have not been as compliant when told to change their behavior," Byrnes said.
The superintendent emphasized that the students and the community are loudly expressing their outrage about the cross burning.
"Our message is very simple: You don’t get to be that here," Byrnes said.
She overheard some high school students talking about wanting to replace the burned grass on the Martins’ lawn.
"They don’t want (the Martins) to have to look at that anymore," Byrnes said.
Martin said he hopes to speak to students and has been invited to serve on the district’s advisory committee on education.
"I want to let students know what it feels like when something like this happens to you," said Martin, who founded and leads the Jesus Is Lord Life Tabernacle church in Marysville.
"We don’t hate this individual at all. I pity this individual, and we’re praying for them."
Wednesday was his youngest daughter’s seventh birthday. She got a pink and purple bike, and a lifetime lesson, Martin said.
"My children have never seen anything so hateful," he said. "We’ll remember this day. (But) we won’t remember it for evil. We’ll remember it for change."
Reporter Scott North contributed to this article.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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