It's hard to believe that this would happen in 2012.  It's hard for Minnesotans to believe that it would happen in northern Minnesota.  Sadly, it's true.  There was an 8 foot cross set ablaze in a woman's front yard just north of Bemidji, MN.

On May 25, a woman called the Beltrami County Sheriff's department in northern Minnesota to report that a large cross had been leaned against a tree in her yard and set on fire.  The flames were shooting five feet into the air.

The woman who lives there is white, but her two grown children are multi-racial.  The incident is under investigation by the county sheriff's department, the FBI, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and two arrests have been made.

The two men arrested are 19 and 20 years old.  Apparently the 20-year-old built the cross and enlisted the help of his friend.  They then drew swastikas and wrote racial epithets and threats on the cross before taking it to the house and setting it on fire.

Those are the facts of the case.