Article January 16, 1989 Issue

POSITIVE PRESS

The new York Times

From The new York Times, June 12, 1988

"Neighbors Come to Aid of Blacks Hit by Vandals"

"Last Wednesday Michele and Charles Berkley parked their new car in the driveway of their new house and at 5:30 the next morning, Mrs. Berkley said, 'I opened the door and stepped into a nightmare.'

"The tires on their two cars were slashed. The cars, house and sidewalk were spray-painted. The Barkleys are blacks in a mostly white neighborhood where they bought the house in April....

"By 7:30 A.M. Thursday, the response had begun. 'They flooded the house with hugs and tears like a dam that had burst,' said Mrs. Berkley, who is a fifth grade teacher. 'Anyone who came down the street—the garbage man, U.P.S.—stopped ... just to share a word of regret with us.'

"By evening, flowers, food, money and apologies had arrived from across Rhode Island and Massachusetts."

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