CLAWSON, Mich. (WXYZ) — A couple from Clawson said they found their lawn vandalized with a surprise message. Someone inscribed the word "WOKE" in the grass, and it was all caught on a surveillance camera.
Jamie Gills-Takenouchi said she initially wanted to believe it was a prank but decided to report it to the police.
A neighbor's surveillance camera shows a person walking their dog on May 18 at 5:15 a.m. The person stops at Gills-Takenouchi and her husband's lawn.
As it appears, they use an unknown substance to spell out the word "WOKE."
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, woke is slang and means to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially racial and social justice).”
Gills-Takenouchi said back in 2020, someone destroyed her Black Lives Matter yard signs. Other than that, she said she’s never been confronted nor had any arguments with anyone about her beliefs.
“My views are in the minority here, and that’s OK. I have great neighbors who disagree with me, and they’re great people who would never do anything like that," she said of the lawn inscription.
She said she posted about this on the Official Clawson Community Forum Facebook page to find out if anyone else has been impacted and to spread awareness about the incident.
“This shouldn’t become (an) us against them thing, right? It was one person. One person did this, and that person needs to be held accountable to that," Gills-Takenouchi said.
She said she doesn’t see the word woke as an insult. In fact, she said she accepts the word but not the vandalism.
“If anyone is curious about my views or why I think them, stop and talk to me. Don’t write in my lawn," she said.
