A woman whose family was subjected to racist harassment during a Fourth of July celebration on the Oregon coast said a group of men played songs about killing Black people and told her family to go back to where they came from.
The woman, who is Black, told KGW-TV on Tuesday that the Lincoln City encounter was “hell,” saying “it should’ve never happened.”
Seven Clark County men were arrested on accusations that include rioting.
“These guys have no heart. They have no soul,” the woman said in the interview, conducted on the condition of anonymity because she and her family fear retaliation.
The woman said her family encountered the men multiple times Saturday. Some initially showed a Nazi symbol to her kids at a Lincoln City hotel, and two flipped off her friends who joined the family for the Fourth.
The woman told KGW she spoke with a staffer from the Inn at Spanish Head about the incidents. The staffer reportedly replied that the men had been causing problems since the previous night and that hotel staff had warned the group.
The woman said her family went to the beach and saw several of the men yelling and waving a flag that read, “Trump. Make America cry again,” the woman told the news station.
The men came onto the beach, set up in front of her family — the only Black family in the vicinity — and played hateful songs on a boombox about killing Black people.
The men said the family should “go back to where you came from,” the woman told KGW. One referenced Portland protests and suggested the family go to the city instead.
Other frightening encounters ensued, the woman said.
Officers formed a barricade between the group and the family, allowing the family to safely leave the beach, Lincoln City police said.
Members of the group, who police said were “highly intoxicated,” then began taunting the officers, challenging them to a fight and setting off illegal aerial fireworks, according to the Police Department. Ahead of the holiday weekend, Lincoln City officials warned people against using illegal fireworks, threatening “consequences” for those who did.
Additional officers arrived at the beach and arrested the seven men on suspicion of charges that include rioting, interfering with police, disorderly conduct, harassment, possession of illegal fireworks and offensive littering.
Gennadiy Kachankov, Antoliy Kachankov, Andrey Zaytsev, Oleg Saranchuk, Ruslan Tkachenko, Andrey I. Leonchik and Yuriy Kachankov, all from Clark County, were arrested and later released, police said.
The men were not accused of bias crimes. The Lincoln County District Attorney said police prevented offensive physical contact, property destruction or threat of serious physical injury needed to prove criminal bias.
“We will file the appropriate charges we can prove under the law,” District Attorney Jonathan Cable said in a news release.
The incident occurred against the backdrop of continued nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality, spurred by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.
-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
Jamie Hale of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
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