On June 9, 2026, a large wooden cross was set on fire in Chicago’s Grant Park during the daytime, sparking immediate alarm. A motorist captured video of the flames engulfing the structure as it leaned against a tree, reviving painful memories of Ku Klux Klan intimidation tactics historically used against Black Americans. Police and the FBI treated it as a potential hate crime and released photos of a person of interest fleeing the scene.
The case took a sharp turn days later when 21-year-old Merlin Lu, a Naperville native and self-described University of Illinois Chicago senior, came forward. In a video sent to NBC Chicago and a subsequent interview, Lu admitted he built the cross from wooden slats carried from his Near West Side apartment, placed a red MAGA-style baseball cap on top, wrapped it in toilet paper, doused it with lighter fluid or kerosene, and set it ablaze.
Lu insisted the act was a solo political protest against President Donald Trump, the “ruling class,” and what he called Christian nationalists and MAGA supporters. He claimed his demonstration “has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender,” while acknowledging he knew the burning cross’s historical significance but “didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem.” He apologized for offending people but maintained he had no racist intent.
UIC later clarified that Lu had not been enrolled since fall 2025. Despite his explanations, Chicago police charged him with felony hate crime counts, arson, criminal damage to property, reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, and burning a cross to intimidate—four felonies and four misdemeanors in total. He was arrested, appeared in court, and was released after a judge denied prosecutors’ request for detention. His defense described the act as foolish free speech.
What began as a suspected white-supremacist attack was revealed as the work of an Asian former college student using one of America’s most charged symbols of racial terror for an anti-Trump protest. Many observers quickly labeled it a hate hoax, noting how the initial public reaction and media coverage assumed far-right perpetrators—only for the truth to point in the opposite political direction. Lu has stated he does not regret the action.
The episode highlights how provocative use of hate symbols, even when claimed as protest, can inflame community fears, waste law enforcement resources, and fuel political division regardless of the stated motive.
SOURCES:
Man accused of burning cross in Chicago’s Grant Park released from custody | FOX 32 Chicago
Person of interest in Chicago cross burning says it was a protest against Trump administration
Burning cross found in Chicago’s Grant Park
