Sacramento church puts up sign of compassion addressed to pride banner vandal
SACRAMENTO — Parkside Community Church is taking a different approach after a vandal stole their pride progress banner off their front lawn.
Church passersby will see a sign that reads "Hey Zach, do you want to talk about it?" More than 20 people have already visited the QR code featured on it which takes you to a letter to Zach, from the church.
It all began when what appears to be a young man was recently caught on security cameras at the church cutting down and stealing their pride progress banner. CBS13 blurred his face in the video above because it's believed he may be a teen. Someone can be heard off-camera shouting his name, Zach, which is how the church got the idea to reach out to him.
"It was very unusual to get actual video of someone taking down the sign," Cheryl McDonald of Parkside Community Church said. "We were quite surprised."
The church said banner vandals are nothing new, but what is new is their approach to addressing them. The church decided to lend a listening ear, rather than report the incident to police.
"In this case, the video with a face, and a name and a clear act, do we take it to the police? Do we put it on social media? What do we do?" McDonald said. "We just know we're looking at a young man who appears to be anxious, maybe angry. We're not sure."
The church has written a letter to Zach through a QR code on a replacement banner in hopes of opening up a dialogue.
"What we wanted was the opportunity to talk to him, to find out what was going on. Whether this was a statement about his beliefs, whether it was a prank, but what was happening?" McDonald said.
McDonald said the church is more focused on community building rather than getting anyone in trouble.
"And hopefully, bringing down the temperature of conversations around divisive issues. We're not going to accomplish that across the country, but we can do it in our own backyard," McDonald said.
Parkside Community Church said that although the police are aware of the situation, they're hoping Zach will come forward so they can start to understand one another.