The FBI says it is investigating an explosion this week in which an improvised explosive device went off outside the offices of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP.
The agency’s Denver field office said in a statement the explosive device exploded against an exterior wall of the NAACP building, which also houses other businesses. No injuries were reported and investigators said that a gasoline can placed next to the device failed to detonate, which would have made the explosion much more serious.
The FBI has not speculated on whether the country’s oldest civil rights organization was specifically targeted, and whether race played any role in the incident.
A person of interest has been identified and was described as a balding Caucasian man around 40 years old who may have been driving a pickup truck. The FBI has said it is investigating the possibility that the NAACP building was not the target of the attack.
“Lets you and I be honest, we live in a country where there are still some that do not want to accept black and brown people into the circle of power,” said Henry Allen, president of the NAACP’s Colorado Springs Chapter.
“Those people have been around forever and will continue to be around forever. But the majority of Americans want the same thing – a peaceful community that involves all of us,” he said.
The discussion focuses on the fact that the story has received very little coverage in the mainstream media, despite heavy coverage of recent civil rights demonstrations in major cities.
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