A High School Defaced With ‘Trump’ and Swastikas
Source: The New York Times
This Week in Hate highlights hate crimes and harassment around the country since the election of Donald Trump.
When Alandes Powell arrived at her son’s high school on Sunday, she saw a swastika and the word “Trump” spray-painted on a building. On benches and a sign at the school’s new baseball field, she saw more graffiti, including racist and homophobic slurs.
A friend had alerted Ms. Powell to the vandalism at Withrow University High School in Cincinnati, where her son is a senior and football player. Her first reaction was anger. “You want education to be a safe place,” she said. “These kids are just growing into who they want to be.”
She wondered if the school, which serves a predominantly African-American student body in a white neighborhood, had been targeted because football players, including her son, Julian, took a knee during the national anthem before games in the fall to protest police killings of African American people.
Police are still investigating the vandalism, which they believe was committed late Saturday night. They have released a surveillance image of a suspect.
Meanwhile, other schools in the area are showing their support for Withrow, with students making banners and wearing orange, one of Withrow’s colors, to school and to games. “We play in a league of mostly white schools,” said Ms. Powell, and “they have all just embraced us.”
She believes the election of President Trump has made people more comfortable expressing racist views. But, she explained, the vandalism at Withrow has brought a new sense of unity to Cincinnati that crosses racial lines. “We’re going to be greater than great,” she said.
Here are some reports of hate crimes and harassment that have drawn public attention in recent days.
• A man has been charged with reckless endangerment for allegedly brandishing a gun and using racist language in an argument with a taxi driver in New Paltz, N.Y., on Sunday.
• Last Wednesday, as many as 27 Jewish community centers around the country received bomb threats. For some, it was the second threat in two weeks — 16 facilities had received bomb threats on January 9.
• The Belmont County Republican Party headquarters in St. Clairsville, Ohio, was vandalized on Sunday with the message “stop Trump.”
• On Saturday, a liquor store in Newtown, Conn., was set on fire and vandalized with swastikas and an anti-Semitic message in an apparent robbery. After investigating, police believe the store owner staged the robbery, setting the fire and painting the graffiti himself. He has been charged with providing a false statement, among other charges.
• A man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly shouting a racial slur at a Catholic priest of Nigerian descent and threatening him with a baseball bat in Brooklyn on January 13.
• Last Wednesday, graffiti including a swastika and the word “Trump” was found at a public library in Northbrook, Ill. Local police are investigating the graffiti, and several similar incidents of vandalism at the library since the election, as possible hate crimes.
• Anti-Semitic messages and drawings were found throughout a building on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on January 14. Campus police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.
• On January 16, a sign reading “diversity is a code word for white genocide,” was placed outside Parkside Middle School in Manchester, N.H. The sign has been removed, and police are investigating the incident. A similar sign was found outside Webster Elementary School, also in Manchester.
• A mosque in Davis, Calif., was vandalized on Sunday, with windows broken, bicycles parked outside damaged and strips of bacon placed on a door handle. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
If you have experienced, witnessed or read about a hate crime or incident of bias or harassment, you can use this form to send information about the incident to This Week in Hate and other partners in the Documenting Hate project. The form is not a report to law enforcement or any government agency. These resources may be helpful for people who have experienced harassment. If you witness harassment, here are some tips for responding. You can contact This Week in Hate at weekinhate@nytimes.com.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect new developments in the case of a Connecticut liquor store that was set on fire.
An earlier version of this story misspelled, in some instances, the name of the high school in Cincinnati that was vandalized on Saturday. It is Withrow University High School, not Wilford.
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