CROSS BURNING

Jun 20 2026CRIME

A Young Protester’s Cross‑Burning Gets a Light‑Touch Bail

A 21‑year‑old student from the University of Illinois Chicago, named Merlin Lu, sparked a citywide debate when he set fire to a wooden cross in Grant Park and placed a “Make America Great Again” hat on top. The act, initially described by some officials and media as a racist or white‑supremacist att

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