A Black couple was recently house hunting in a small Michigan town and one of the houses they toured with a real estate agent was adorned with KKK memorabilia. Horrifying enough, but the house turned out to be owned by a Michigan policeman, who is white.
Rod Mathis, the potential buyer, posted photos of the KKK artifacts that included Confederate flags and a framed, yellowing application to the Ku Klux Klan on social media and now the officer, Charles Anderson, is under internal investigation.
“I immediately stopped my walk-through and informed the Realtor that I am not writing an offer on this home and I am leaving now,” Mathis wrote. “To the officer, I know who you are and I will be looking at resources to expose your prejudice.”
The five-bedroom home is in Holton, Michigan, a small town of fewer than 3,000 people.
“The Muskegon Police Department has opened an internal investigation after a social media post was brought to our attention accusing an officer of being in possession of certain items associated with a white supremacy group,” the police department said in a statement.
“The City of Muskegon requests your patience as we thoroughly investigate this issue,” the city posted on its Facebook page about its police officer. “Further information will be available upon completion of the investigation.”
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The officer has been placed on administrative leave.
This incident has led to the department looking into a controversial fatal shooting of a Black man in 2009 in which Anderson, was cleared, according to an MLive news report. Anderson had chased and fatally shot Julius Johnson after a traffic stop.
“Anderson was cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Julius Johnson in September 2009. Anderson, who said he was injured in a scuffle with Johnson following a traffic stop, claimed he feared for his life when he fired the fatal shot, according to the legal opinion from the prosecutor, obtained by MLive, explaining why Anderson was justified in fatally shooting Johnson. The prosecutor at the time, Tony Tague, is no longer with the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office,” ABC News reported.
Anderson suffered broken facial bones and the prosecutor determined that “without intervention, a continued assault could have resulted in the death of the officer,” according to the documents obtained by MLive.com.
But Anderson’s account differed from eyewitness statements.
“Tunisia Phillips, Johnson’s sister, told investigators that she heard her brother beg for his life before Anderson shot him. The prosecutor later cleared Anderson of wrongdoing and then charged his sister Tunisia Phillips with ‘lying’ to police. People took to the streets to protest Johnson’s killing,” Diaspora 7 reported.
Eric Hood, the president of the Muskegon County chapter of the NAACP, is now calling for an in-depth investigation of Anderson, especially his cases that involve Black people and other people of color. He stated: “We want a thorough investigation to be sure that when he goes out there and puts on that uniform and performs his duties as an officer that he’s being fair and impartial,”
Anderson, 48, has been a Muskegon police officer for more than 20 years, USA Today reported.
Now Mathis and his wife, Reyna, are receiving death threats. Mathis posted a photo on Facebook showing a printed version of the threat that was hand-delivered to him by Muskegon Township police. The threat reads: “Those people looking at this house that took the picture, better open their eyes in the back of their head.”
“I took it as a terroristic threat, myself,” Mathis told MLive.com. “I think it’s credible, but this situation is so new to me and my family. We’re taking all threats seriously.”
