"I Didn't Go To Church" Cross-Burner Kid Says He's Not Racist, He Just Did Not Know

[00:00:00]This is also very interesting. So, a couple weeks ago it was in the news that somebody in Chicago had burned a cross. All right? There was a cross burning in Chicago. We all know the cross burning is a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan. Right? It's a It's a threat. It's basically a threat of murder on a black person, right? If you burn a cross on someone's lawn or you burn a cross someplace, that's the Klan threatening somebody. That's what the KKK used to do to intimidate people. You know, the Klan would burn crosses in their ceremonies and and then during the Civil Rights era in particular in the '50s when they wanted to threaten a Civil Rights leader, they would go to their lawn and light a cross in their lawn. Well, so this is local news in Chicago. They figured out what happened with this cross burning in Chicago. Very weird.

[00:00:42]>> Begin with that NBC 5 News Investigates exclusive. This was the startling and offensive scene in Grant Park last Tuesday. A burning cross, a symbol for centuries that has represented racism and hatred. For just about a week now, Chicago police and the FBI have been trying to identify a man who is suspected of setting up this cross and torching it.

[00:01:06]Well, tonight, the NBC Chicago Investigative Team has now ID'd a 21-year-old college senior who says he is the person in this photo and describes why he did it. To our investigative reporter Chuck Goudie, who has interviewed the man behind the burning cross and tonight has this exclusive story.

[00:01:23]>> This is so weird, folks. This is so so so weird. I I mean, wait till you see it.

[00:01:30]>> Until right now, the young shirtless man running from a burning cross in Grant Park was an >> The young shirtless man.

[00:01:37]>> [laughter] >> The young shirtless man. Well, he looks like he works out, so I'll give him that.

[00:01:43]>> nameless person of interest in a Chicago Police Arson Investigation and subject of a possible FBI hate crime case. NBC 5 and >> He's a nice guy. He gave you the shirt off his back, right? He He's a nice guy.

[00:01:55]He gave you the shirt off his back, right?

[00:01:57]>> Investigates has now interviewed the man who admits burning the cross. University of Illinois-Chicago senior, Merlin Lu, says he knew the implications of a burning cross and had placed a MAGA hat atop the cross, explaining his motivation was to protest Trump administration injustice, not something racist.

[00:02:17]>> How did you >> Yeah, so yeah, that's the kid's story is he he put a MAGA hat on the cross and he thought people would see it as protesting Trump.

[00:02:26]Right?

[00:02:28]That's plausible, right? Oh, no, that's what you do when you don't like Trump is you put a MAGA hat on top of a cross, you light the cross on fire and everyone knows you just hate Trump, right? No one thinks Ku Klux Klan, no one thinks racism, they just think, "Oh, you don't like Trump."

[00:02:42]What?

[00:02:42]>> the land on a burning cross?

[00:02:44]>> Just it came up to my head one day.

[00:02:48]I wanted to I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends, no I did know about this uh this historical relevance before >> So, he wanted to do something by himself with no organization, no friends.

[00:03:07]That's odd.

[00:03:08]That almost sounds to me like he's been told to say that. Like there were people who helped him out and he's taking the fall and like the first thing, "And no one helped me, I had no accomplices, you know?" I mean, that that right there makes me think like why would you say that?

[00:03:24]Right? And if that's actually true, why wouldn't history change social change?

[00:03:28]You want to make social change, join an organization, buddy. The civil rights movement, the you know, the labor movement, you know? I mean, why in the world would you not want to join, you know, if you want to change history, generally that does not happen with lone acts of terrorism and lone acts of of, you know, racist speech. It happens with people joining mass movements. So, why, if that's true, first of all, what what what's your problem with joining an organization? Why is he so scared to join an organization number one if he wants to make a change? And number two, like why is that the first thing out of his mouth? That makes me think he did have accomplices.

[00:04:02]>> forehand, but I didn't know uh the severity, how how racially motivated it may seem from what I from what I did.

[00:04:14]>> So, he knew that the burning the cross was a hate symbol, but he didn't know how extreme it was.

[00:04:22]And so, he thought burning a cross in the middle of a public park in Chicago would be a a good thing to do.

[00:04:28]This is so bizarre. This is one of the most bizarre incidents I've ever seen.

[00:04:33]>> Cuz cuz my my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.

[00:04:37]>> Should you have done it some other way?

[00:04:39]>> Yeah, probably.

[00:04:40]>> Merlin Liu is a 21-year-old Naperville native.

[00:04:43]>> And Liu rips this forehand shot that >> That's him playing tennis at Neuqua Valley High School, where he was graduated in 2022. Last week, Liu sent this scripted video to NBC, claiming responsibility for the cross burning, but saying he had no affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, apologizing to those who were offended. In the video, he also criticized President Trump.

[00:05:04]>> I don't want to wait till his term ends.

[00:05:06]I don't want to wait until he may or may not get impeached.

[00:05:10]I want him gone right now.

[00:05:11]>> On that video, are you >> What does that mean?

[00:05:15]Right? That's even weirder. So, he doesn't want to wait till his term ends, and he doesn't want him to get impeached. So, is he calling for the president's assassination? That's what it that sounds like.

[00:05:24]So, I'm even more confused. So, he doesn't want Trump to get impeached, right? I mean, impeach Trump, that's what a lot of liberals want. And he doesn't want his term to end. So, what do you want? Do you want him to like have a heart attack? Like like that I mean I'm really confused by this case.

[00:05:38]Something is off. Something is way way off in this case. There is something we're not being told. He had motivations that he's not sharing with us.

[00:05:48]You know, you don't burn a cross in a public park and not know that's a symbol of racism. Um, something's off.

[00:05:55]>> threatening him?

[00:05:56]>> No.

[00:05:58]>> You You say that you think that he should be brought to an end.

[00:06:01]>> I think No, I said I said he deserves to stand trial to the American people. Some paraphrase, I guess, but >> That's what impeachment is. And you know, they can put you on trial after they impeach you, but in order to bring charges against the president, you have to impeach him first, and then he faces criminal charges.

[00:06:15]>> I think you used the word end.

[00:06:18]>> That's what I mean by end. I mean by end I don't mean like a civil war. If If If that's the If that is the imagery that you're trying to imagine.

[00:06:29]>> Lue says he built this cross after carrying wooden slats from his near West Side apartment to Grant Park last Tuesday afternoon. He showed the red ball cap that he put on the top beam and used lighter fluid and toilet paper to get it all going.

[00:06:43]>> I put a red hat. To signify the mag- the MAGA hat, the Make America Great Again hat, so that That was Yeah, that's what I tied on top.

[00:06:52]>> not visible in the the one >> Yeah, you didn't notice that like no one can see the hat, right? People just see a burning cross, you dumb kid. Like I I have a hard time believing this kid can actually be this stupid. I you know, I maybe I'm just out of touch, but I just I don't feel like he's this dumb.

[00:07:10]I I don't feel like he's this dumb. I feel like somebody put him up to this.

[00:07:15]That's what I feel like. I'm just telling you my personal opinion, I have no, you know, 100% proof. I'm just telling you something Somebody put him up to this. This is bigger than This is so bizarre, right? Uh, there's so many layers of weird going on here. And also, this is the same city Chicago where the Jussie Smollett thing happened.

[00:07:35]Something's going on. Yeah, this doesn't make any goddamn sense. And And And also, like why did he dig himself a digger a a bigger hole? Right? I mean, you know, I mean so it's like he he did this already. This is a serious crime.

[00:07:49]And then he makes a video about he wants to end President Trump and he doesn't want him to be impeached and he doesn't want him So he's like so so he digs himself an even bigger hole when he when he confesses? Like this is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. This gets in college, right? You know, um >> video that was taken by a motorist.

[00:08:08]>> Lou says he was protesting what he calls MAGA Christian nationalist supporters and the Trump administration ruling class.

[00:08:16]>> scared >> That's what you do, right? When you're mad at Trump, you go burn a cross. That That communicates that so well.

[00:08:22]>> damning people. You're just scamming me out of money.

[00:08:24]Right? And and I think that's a great reflection of how this country works right now where money controls everything.

[00:08:32]Money has power over health care. Money has power over transportation.

[00:08:36]>> Chicago police and the FBI have been trying to identify him ever since, putting out this flyer with pictures of him running away. CPD labeling it an arson.

[00:08:46]>> Are you surprised nobody's identified you to this point? And >> bit.

[00:08:50]>> called them?

[00:08:50]>> A little bit.

[00:08:51]>> [laughter] >> Are you surprised they didn't catch you?

[00:08:57]Yeah, actually. That's even weirder.

[00:08:59]Like he expected that they would catch him. Like I mean what in the world is going on with this case? I I don't want to just keep repeating myself, but I'm just like something is not honest. Somebody's not telling the truth here, okay?

[00:09:15]>> But um to me that's not that important.

[00:09:18]>> Right.

[00:09:18]>> I don't really Like to me this issue is bigger than just myself.

[00:09:22]>> Did you make it all the way through almost four years at UIC without somebody teaching you that a burning cross is one of the most divisive symbols in America? [laughter] >> Good question. Good question.

[00:09:36]You made it through four years the University of Illinois Chicago and you had no idea that a burning cross might be offensive, might be a hate crime.

[00:09:44]>> No, I didn't I don't really have any like I never grew up with religion. Never uh >> You never grew up with religion?

[00:09:53]What does that have to do with It's American history.

[00:09:56]>> Really surround myself with people with it. My my childhood friends, they uh I remember them going to like confirmations and stuff like that, but um >> But it's a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan. I mean, that really is is where it started. Nobody ever >> That's his reason? Oh, I didn't go to church when I was a kid. So, that's how I why I didn't know that uh that that burning crosses were not okay.

[00:10:18]Um Yeah. Oh, he didn't go to church when he was a kid, guys. I mean, give him a break. He didn't go to church when he was a kid.

[00:10:25]>> taught you that. You never read it in a history book. Nobody >> I just I just saw the Wikipedia page with the um the movie with the like I think it's called like uh Under One Nation or something like that.

[00:10:40]>> [laughter] >> I just saw the Wikipedia page. Oh, god.

[00:10:49]Oh.

[00:10:50]>> The Birth of a Nation is a famous 1915 silent film that romanticized the KKK and showed a cross burning.

[00:10:58]>> Was it a hate crime?

[00:10:59]>> No. For sure not. In no way possibly possible was that a hate crime. I do understand why it was interpreted that way and I apologize for that, but but no. The intent The intent was not there.

[00:11:09]>> The FBI and Chicago police will determine that and what charges may >> Yeah. I Yeah. I I'm telling you something's going on there, right? Jussie Smollett, you all remember Jussie Smollett. He was in Chicago and I I did reports on it. He was in Chicago and he faked a hate crime against himself.

[00:11:29]Um and and the the story of the hate crime didn't exactly add up, but you know, and then we found out that it was faked. Um and Jussie Smollett went on trial for faking a hate crime against himself. And the judge dismissed the charges and he got no criminal charges.

[00:11:46]And I heard about that Jussie Smollett.

[00:11:48]Jussie Smollett was a famous actor, he was on the show Empire.

[00:11:52]And he faked a hate crime against himself. And at that point, um you know, uh I was convinced the fact that he immediately got media attention for it.

[00:12:02]Um And he immediately got got media attention for it. Do I have my report on?

[00:12:08]Um Jussie Smollett, can I show that?

[00:12:12]Um Do I have a Yeah, uh yeah, I did a report about about Jussie Smollett's, you know, faked hate crime. I can I can show that, but he was a famous actor, he was on the show Empire, he faked a hate crime against himself. Uh he faked a hate crime against himself. And and then uh after that, he um you know, he uh after he faked a hate crime against himself, uh he was put on trial and the whole nation was angry with with Jussie Smollett, also in Chicago. Um and uh and then he got no penalty. They just dropped all the charges against him. Um I reported on the Jussie Smollett incident for RT, so I guess I'll I'll show. This is very old. This is from a long time ago. When did I When did I do this report? This report is from This report I did it. What is the date?

[00:13:11]It's from a really long time ago. I'll just tell you that much. Um My goodness, where do you look at the date? Where's the date?

[00:13:19]All right. Um Hold on. Where do they I the date? It's 6 years ago. This this was October 2nd, 2019. I did this this report on the Jussie Smollett incident. Um it was about hate crime hoaxes.

[00:13:35]Um So, yeah, we'll put that on we'll put that on the the video. Uh hold on. Hold on. Hate crime hoaxes. This was my RT report about the time that the Jussie Smollett incident happened, which was also in Chicago.

[00:13:48]Which then resulted in no criminal penalties. Why was this kid not arrested as soon as he turned himself in?

[00:13:54]Right? If they have the idea I was searching for him and all of this. And then he made a video. Why did they just give him a sit down with with the local TV news? Why did Why did they not arrest him? Right? If he's wanted if they're wanted for a hate crime. I mean, something is off.

[00:14:08]>> I'm so horrendous that everyone was talking about it. A young African-American woman held down as three white guys cut her dreadlocks and insulted her.

[00:14:17]>> Where were Minister? Where were anybody to protect her?

[00:14:23]From this heinous heinous crime.

[00:14:26]>> The tears in the eyes of the grandparents came from righteous outrage. Now, questioning the claims of a crying girl is not a good look for anyone, especially the media, which most Americans already hold disdain for. But maybe they should have. Well, it turns out the incident never happened. Her grandparents have written an apology.

[00:14:44]>> To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused.

[00:14:51]To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. To the broader community who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust.

[00:15:08]>> Now, of course, actual hate crimes do happen. We can recall how recently there was a high school wrestling referee in New Jersey who forced a black athlete to cut his dreadlocks. He was shamed in front of the audience. Outrage was everywhere. But we see another disturbing trend in US society. That's people faking hate crimes against themselves in order to get media attention and sympathy. Who can forget Jussie Smollett?

[00:15:32]>> I can only go off of their words.

[00:15:35]I mean, who says empire this MAGA country?

[00:15:43]>> All those celebrities who rallied around Jussie Smollett's case and filled the airwaves with their outrage and indignation, well, they look pretty bad.

[00:15:51]Now, remember that crowd of high school boys from Kentucky who were shown in a video wearing Trump hats and confronting an elderly Native American veteran?

[00:15:59]Remember how it turned out that he had actually walked up to them and that the boys had already been met with a tirade of anti-white slurs from the nearby Black Hebrew Israelites?

[00:16:10]>> Name these kids. I want names. Shame them. If you think this wouldn't dox you in a heartbeat, think again.

[00:16:17]>> On this question, have you ever seen a more punchable face than these kids?

[00:16:21]>> With the overall crime rate in the United States on the decline, actual hate crimes are increasing. And that's what makes these hoaxes so vile. It feeds into the idea that actual victims of actual racist atrocities shouldn't be taken seriously.

[00:16:35]>> The unfortunate thing >> Yeah. Yeah, I It's a It's a bizarre bizarre thing. Um