Watching the statue topple at the Vietnamese Buddhist Meditation Center in Tacoma, David Wright felt like a part of him shattered as well.
“It grabbed me deep in the gut,” he said.
The incident was captured on video. Jereme Clarke is facing a charge of second-degree malicious mischief. Police said he broke a religious statue at the temple, tried to pull down a pillar with his car, and called the members "devil worshippers."
According to court documents, he told investigators he was ‘doing [God’s] work.’
“A great range of folks really want to express our care to the Vietnamese Buddhist community,” said Wright.
Wright is a pastor, and the chaplain at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
“When hate came to Tacoma in this way, we felt the need to do something specific about this,” he said.
That led him to gather dozens of signatures from area faith and community leaders on an open letter condemning Clarke’s alleged behavior.
Members of the temple previously expressed a desire that Clarke be charged with a hate crime. Wright said he believes that’s important.
“Based on what appears to be an act against someone’s identity, their religious and cultural identities, to cause harm … I believe that would rise to the standard,” he said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”
The Bureau’s website also notes: “Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.”
A spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department deferred a request to the the county prosecutor. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office was not able to provide a response by Tuesday night if they plan to pursue hate crime charges.
Still – Wright said he believes a sacred space was violated, and wants to see the case treated that way.
“That’s something that is not just vandalism,” he said. “That is an act of hate, an expression of hate. And I’m less interested in the punishment of that than in saying, this is what this is, and how do we help people realize the harm that causes.”
