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Two years after a hate crime threatened to break their spirits, the Judes are better than ever

Guilty plea expected Jan. 23
Posted at 12:31 AM, Jan 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-22 12:03:20-05

CINCINNATI — When a former tenant vandalized their rental property with racist symbols, paint and concrete in 2016, Pat and Joe Jude struggled first with grief and then with anger.

Then, after 42-year-old Samuel Whitt was indicted on federal hate crime charges, with a choice.

“We talked a lot about whether we were going to sell it or just walk away,” Pat Jude said.

If they returned, they would face the prospect of repairing a home with swastikas and “white power” scrawled on its walls, pipes full of concrete and a soggy, saggy downstairs ceiling. It would be a dispiriting, expensive project for the couple, who said they had frequently dealt with “comments” about their interracial relationship but never before experienced an outright attack.

They chose to take it on.

“We were like, ‘No, we’re going to rebuild it, and it’s going to be better than it was before, and he won’t win,’” Pat said. “’If we just walk away, he’s won.’”

Pat, who is white, returned with her husband, who is black, to refurbish the ruined home. As they did, Joe said, the work helped them move past their shock and anger.

It wasn’t easy.

“He did a job on us, and it took a while for us to get back to normal,” he said. “I felt myself pulling back from people.”

In early January, when the FBI informed them Whitt had agreed to plead guilty to to criminal interference to the right to fair housing, the couple said they’d made a full recovery.

In the time between the charge and the phone call, they had repaired the home and opened a restaurant, too: Scoop Dawg, which serves burgers and tacos on Elmwood Place.

It’s also allowed them to open up to the people around them again, Pat said. There, they offer prizes to young customers with good grades and work to provide low-income teenagers with food and clothing.

“We’re big hearts, we have big hearts and we always try to help people no matter what,” she said. “Even though we were angry, we came back to being kind again. That’s all we have is to be kind to each other.”

Whitt is expected to plead guilty Wednesday morning before U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett, according to U.S. Attorney Ben Glassman.