Black Lives Matter sign damaged at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook

A repeatedly targeted Black Lives Matter banner at a Setauket church will fly again, once repairs are done, and if the new cash reward leads to the suspect, that could lead to healing, church and police officials said on Friday.

"I hope and pray that we can have a dialogue with the people who are so reactive to this and I'd like us to build a community where everyone feels safe," said the Rev. Madelyn Campbell, an interim minister.

The commitment by this church and the entire denomination to "anti-racism work," she said, led the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook to consistently convey that banner's message though it has been vandalized a number of times since it first was flown in 2016. 

Anyone who can help identify the motorcycle-helmet-wearing person who ripped the approximately 8 feet by 3 feet banner — which remained up because it had been reinforced — at 12:03 a.m. on Oct. 26 qualifies for a cash reward, according to the reverend and the police.

The church is located on Nicolls Road in Setauket, a major thoroughfare; its banner flies right outside its entrance. 

"It's been a target, for sure," Campbell said.

"You want people to see it," she said later, adding: "I think people interpret it in different ways. I will say I think there are a lot of angry people and sometimes people don't know where to focus their anger, and they can't even name what they are angry at, they're angry. I can't say what was in the mind of the individual who made this attempt to pull the banner down, I don't know what this person was thinking. Was it somebody who feels wronged by the world, somebody who is aspirationally racist?"

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