A California woman is begging for forgiveness after she was photographed holding a sign suggesting that animals and Black people should be “muzzled.”
“Demonstrators convened at the Humboldt County Courthouse in rural Northern California on May 16 to protest the state’s COVID-19 policies. Gretha Stenger was among them, and a picture of her at the event caused a stir online,” reported the Atlanta Black Star.
“Muzzles are for dogs and slaves. I am a free human being,” the sign read with a photo of an African women enslaved in Brazil in the 1800s named Escrava Anastacia, who is considered to be a saint to many in South America. She explained she “came out to stand with people who were deeply concerned about the stay-at-home orders and their repercussions.”
Another woman, who said her name was Larkin Small, held a different sign reading: “COVID-19 has a 99 percent survival rate. Why are we locked up?” The virus actually doesn’t have a high survival rate, the fatality rate ranges from 3 to 5 percent depending on the location and access to medical care.
Local blogger Redheaded Blackbelt photographed Stenger and Small at the public protest. Small explained that it was her first time at a demonstration. “This is what it took to get her out of her house at the age of 37,” she said.
After being blasted online Stenger apologized, saying that someone else made the sign and handed it to her.
“Holding that sign up at the lockdown protest was a grave mistake and I ask forgiveness from all those who I have caused pain. As I had no sign of my own, it was handed to me by another protester and a photographer took the picture before I considered the racist implications,” Stenger told The Times-Standard. “My intent was to take a stand for the freedom of all human persons and I mistakenly held a sign that conveyed the opposite. Please know that I respect the dignity of all people and I sincerely regret any suffering it has caused.”
Small hasn’t made a statement.
See the sign below: