Jessie Higgins

Evansville Courier & Press

Evansville police are looking for a person who wrote a threatening message with a racial slur on the door of a predominantly black church on Thanksgiving.

“Kill All Koons” was written in chalk across the church’s backdoor. The person also wrote “Koons Inside” on the church’s van.

Members of Evansville’s Liberty Missionary Baptist Church at 701 Oak St., discovered the messages Friday morning, said the Rev. Todd Robertson, the church’s pastor.

“I’ve been the pastor here for 17 years and we’ve never had anything like this,” Robertson said Saturday. “I know there seems to be a rise across the country of ill will toward certain groups of people. But we keep preaching, we will overcome evil with good.”

This is the second threatening message to be written at the Downtown church. The first appeared on the sidewalk near the church three weeks ago. The members who found it immediately washed it away.

No other churches have been targeted, said Evansville police spokesman Sgt. Jason Cullum.

The latest messages appeared shortly after Liberty Missionary Baptist Church hosted its annual Thanksgiving dinner. The church handed out nearly 300 meals to people who either couldn’t afford a Thanksgiving dinner, or had nowhere to go for the holiday, Robertson said.

“We’ve been doing that for the past seven years,” Robertson said. “Most places that normally feed people are closed on Thanksgiving. It’s a blessing.”

The dinner draws volunteers of different races from around the community. Robertson said he thinks the sight of white and black people working together may have instigated the person to leave the threatening note.

“We hope the person will be turned in and held accountable,” he said.

After the first threatening message was left three weeks ago, Robertson preached to his congregation to stay positive and let good overcome.

“Don’t get me wrong, it is upsetting,” Robertson said. “You do feel violated when somebody does that to your place of worship, the place where you go to feel peace.”

Robertson said he hopes the incident will shine a light on intolerance, hate and racism that still exists in the community.

“People ought to be aware that there are some people in our area who have this mentality,” Robertson said. “Hiding it doesn’t heal it. You have to face it in order to heal it. There is evil out there, but we want to have it overcome with good, and glorify the Lord.”