For the fourth time, a “Black Lives Matter” banner has been stolen from outside a church on Appleton’s south side. Reverand Kathleen Rolenz is the minister at Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. She says she’s losing track of how many banners they’ve had to replace.
Rolenz says they attached a note to the latest banner, telling the thief that every time the banner is stolen, the church will donate money to a Black Lives Matter cause.
Rolenz says they’re going to order a new banner, but this time it might have a different message. She thinks it will say “When Black Lives Matter, then all lives will matter.” She says that’s in response to comments they’ve been getting online, and through phone calls.
Rolenz says the latest banner had been in place for a couple of weeks. It was stolen Friday night or early Saturday morning. The Appleton chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice is organizing a demonstration on the sidewalk along Calumet Street, Thursday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.