It turns out the burning cross found at a Chicago park wasn’t the work of White supremacists, but an anti-Trump former student at the University of Illinois Chicago who isn’t White.
Merlin Lu, 21, was charged with two counts of committing a hate crime, arson, property damage and other offenses for setting ablaze a large wooden cross found leaning against a tree last week in Chicago’s Grant Park.
The charges filed Wednesday came after Mr. Lu admitted to a local television station that he set the June 9 fire, but insisted it was intended as a protest against President Trump.
Mr. Lu, who was identified as Asian American, also denied any affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan. He said he was unaware of the cross-burning’s connection to the racist group.
“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” he told NBC5 (WMAQ-TV). “Because my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”
At a Thursday hearing, a judge ordered him released from custody pending trial, but forbade him from obtaining fire-starting materials such as wood and kerosene. His next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, according to local news reports.
Mr. Lu has been described as a UIC student, but university spokesperson Brian Flood said a previous student named Merlin Lu has not been enrolled since fall 2025.
Mr. Lu said the cross-burning was meant specifically as a demonstration against the Trump administration’s “ruling class” and Christian nationalists, according to the station.
“I don’t want to wait until his term ends. I don’t want to wait until he may nor may not get impeached,” Mr. Lu said in a video sent to NBC5. “I want him gone right now.”
He said he placed a red baseball cap atop the cross in a deliberate reference to the Make America Great Again hats worn by Mr. Trump and his supporters, although it’s impossible to identify the charred cap from video taken at the scene.
When asked in the Tuesday interview whether it was a hate crime, Mr. Lu replied “no, for sure not. In no way possible was that a hate crime.”
“I do understand why it was interpreted that way and I apologize for that, but no, the intent was not there,” he said.
The park cross-burning in Chicago that was blamed on white supremacists was actually a leftist anti-Trump protest by an Asian man. @thisisUIC senior Merlin Lu said he was protesting Christian nationalism & MAGA. A red hat was burned along with the cross. https://t.co/RqH9QdTFeb
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 17, 2026
Not aging well were last week’s comments from Democrats, media outlets and leftist groups decrying the incident as an act of right-wing racism.
“The fact that it even occurred at all speaks to what happens when the seeds of racism and fascism grow unchecked in our country,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a June 11 speech to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s annual conference, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Rainbow PUSH, the civil-rights group founded by Jesse Jackson, called the burning cross a “gut-wrenching reminder that the forces of hatred and racial intimidation remain present in our society.”
“This act serves as a painful reminder that racism and white supremacy have not disappeared; they continue to threaten the vision of an inclusive and equitable society,” said the group in a June 10 statement.
The Associated Press linked the cross-burning to former President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
“A large burning cross — a historic symbol of hate and intimidation against Black Americans — was discovered in a Chicago park where former President Barack Obama famously delivered his acceptance speech when he was elected the nation’s first Black president,” said the AP in its June 10 report.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was “deeply disturbed upon seeing the images,” declaring that, “Hate has no place in our city.”
But Mr. Johnson continued to blame “hate” following Mr. Lu’s confession after being asked about the case at a press conference.
“I can’t speak to his lack of or understanding of the gravity of what he is alleged of having done,” Mr. Johnson said. “Again, it’s a painful reminder of how hatred toward Black Americans still permeates in our society.”
Calling out the mayor was George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley.
“Mayor Brandon Johnson denounced the incident as a sign of the racism in society,” said Mr. Turley in a Thursday post on X. “Johnson, however, refused to address the fact that the cross burning was actually the work of an anti-Trump liberal student.”
Other commenters compared the incident to the 2019 Jussie Smollett racism hoax, mocking the episode as “Smollett 2.0.”
Mr. Lu was identified as a graduate of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville.
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