A Georgia man painted the words “white people parking only” on his property after dealing with the city of Lafayette for 20 years with no results.
Terry Shropshire, who is Black, told Channel 9 News that he became frustrated after being denied a building permit by the city multiple times for his property.
Shropshire said that he wrote both “white parking only” and “white people parking only” to garner attention to the issue. He said that he had planned to build a walk-up diner on his property, but the city repeatedly denied him a building permit. Shropshire also wrote a sign that said a Black man couldn’t open a business in the city.
“Black man can not open business. Different codes for different people.”
“They want this to be a parking lot. They told me to move my cars so everybody else can park. Now what kind of sense does that make,” he said. “It’s not that I did not ask for it…I even begged for it. I just told them to tell me what to do and I’ll do it. And they still won’t do it.”
Shropshire said that he knew it would be hard for people to look away from the words he painted but noted that after 20 years, nothing else was working. He said the city requesting that he remove junk cars from his property set him off.
“After 20-something years, a man gets tired. 20 years of this. So I did that white parking only not as a racist thing, because I’m never racist. Don’t like racist people. Don’t wanna be racist,” he said.
“But that’s the only way to get attention is if a Black man can’t park here, then I’ll just let the white people park here.”
“And if that’s racist and someone takes it out of context then I’ll apologize. I feel sorry for you. I’m just tired of what’s going on. And I don’t know any other way to handle it. I’ve tried to get lawyers. I’ve tried everything, and it’s not working.”
Lafayette City Manager David Hamilton told Channel 9 News that they were “happy to work with any property owner” to “understand these codes.”
“The International Building Code, Health Codes, Fire Safety Code, City Zoning and Ordinances apply equally to everyone. They are written to help protect the health and safety of communities and citizens. We are happy to work with any property owner or potential business owner to help them understand these Codes and how to meet them.”
Within 24 hours, someone went onto Shropshire’s property and pained over the messages.