Oregon Public Broadcasting

A hate crime expert with Portland State University says he’s not surprised that vandals burned a cross and the letters “KKK” into a front lawn of a home in Medford, Oregon.

Professor Randy Blazak says incidents like this tend to happen in what he calls ‘edge cities,’ between urban and rural areas.

Randy Blazak: "In those places there are not only people who are displaced by the growth, but there’s a rapid sense of change, that things are becoming more urbanized, which means a more diverse population, different economic groups and that creates a little bit of a backlash among the people who have been there for awhile."

A man from Jamaica lives in the house that was targeted.

Medford police are looking for three suspects: white males in their late teens or early 20s.   Officers found a small home-made bomb at the scene, which failed to detonate.