A 21-year-old Chicago man who was arrested for burning a large cross in a public park insisted he was not being racist. Instead, he told police it was a political protest against the Trump administration, Jeffrey Epstein, and the MAGA base.
According to Cook County prosecutors, Merlin Lu claimed he hadn’t grasped the historical weight of the symbol.
Asked how a college student could miss that context, he responded: “I didn’t go to college for history.”
Shortly before 2 p.m. on June 9, Lu carried two pieces of wood into Grant Park and built the cross on-site, hammering it together by hand. He wrapped it in toilet paper, doused it in lighter fluid, tied a MAGA-like hat to the top, propped it against a tree, and set it ablaze.
A video of the spectacle is still circulating on social media, drawing widespread shock and outrage. Many are not buying Lu’s excuse. Noting it’s a “well-known symbol of racist hatred,” one popular social media account wrote, “Another clown hides behind ‘protest’ while using one of the most hateful symbols in history. This has to stop!”
🚨HATE CRIME: A 21-year-old man was charged with arson and two counts of a hate crime after allegedly burning a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park — a well-known symbol of racist hatred.
— i Expose Racists & Pedos (@SeeRacists) June 18, 2026
His name is Merlin Lu.
Lu was arrested at his residence with help from U.S. Marshals. He now… pic.twitter.com/m4MvZR0WIK
Lu now faces two felony hate crime counts, along with additional felony charges of arson and property damage, and misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and burning a cross to intimidate.
For nearly a week, authorities did not identify Lu, leaving the public to wonder who set the blaze. When surveillance video captured him fleeing the scene shirtless, backpack in tow, Chicago police broadened the investigation, bringing in Illinois State Police, the U.S. Marshals, and the FBI. Reverend Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church even offered a $10,000 reward for information.
Six days later, detectives arrested Lu at his apartment, where they recovered a hammer, a box of nails, a lighter, a cigarette butt, and a kerosene bottle cap.
At his initial court hearing on June 18, prosecutors asked the judge to keep him in custody until trial. The judge declined, stating that the prosecution had not demonstrated that his actions qualified as a hate crime. Upon leaving the courthouse, Lu publicly apologized for using a racist symbol.
“In terms of the fear that I’ve evoked, I’ve already apologized, and I’m going to apologize sincerely again right now,” he said, according to CBS News. “I probably will continue to apologize for who knows how long, maybe forever, and I’ve accepted that. I’m okay with that, I understand that.”
He added, “After I’ve come out and explicitly stated that this is not intended to be a hate crime, I believe that any more narratives to paint me as a racist, as a KKK member, I believe that’s a distraction.”
Lu may call it a distraction, but for many, a burning cross can never be a blank canvas for protest.
The court will hear his case again on June 22.
