Racist Graffiti Reported at Kendrick Park
Photo: istock
Racist graffiti was reported at Kendrick Park and on three electrical boxes around town, one of which was at Kendrick Park, on August 24. The graffiti was reported to the Amherst police and to the DPW, which quickly removed it. The graffiti reappeared at Kendrick Park the next day and was apparently removed again. The Amherst police are investigating the matter.
Witnesses reported that the graffiti included painted swastikas and triskeles and “white power – goodnight” stickers with the image of a gun pointed at a Black cartoon face.
The Indy reached out to Police Chief Gabe Ting and DEI Director Pamela Nolan-Young for updates on the investigation. Neither has yet to respond.
Two weeks later, on September 8, in response to an Indy inquiry, Town Manager Paul Bockelman issued the following statement. The town posted it on its website.
“On August 25th, a hateful symbol was found spray-painted on two electrical boxes in Amherst, one at Kendrick Park and the other at the intersection of Northampton Road and South Pleasant Street. The symbol appeared to be a version of a triskele comprised of three sevens.”
“Town of Amherst staff from the Department of Public Works and Police Department removed the graffiti immediately. The Police Department is actively investigating these incidents.”
“ Hateful symbols such as this do not reflect the values of our Town. Our community remains committed to ensuring all residents and visitors feel welcomed, accepted, and celebrated in Amherst.”
Rani Parker, outgoing chair of the Amherst Human Rights Commission (HRC) issued the following statement.
“First, I fully appreciate the prompt removal of this offensive graffiti. I’m glad that town management recognizes that this type of information should go out right away, not more than two weeks later. I would also like to see any statement regarding racist symbols speak more specifically to the affected residents, rather than the generic statement that “our community remains committed to ensuring all residents and visitors feel welcomed, accepted, and celebrated in Amherst.” This is not about “all” visitors and “all” residents. “
Debora Ferreira, co-chair of the town’s Community Safety and Social Justice Committee (CSSJC) issued the following statement.
“The town needs to be transparent when these hateful incidents happen, and they need to notify the committees such as CSSJC and HRC about them. They also need to let us know what they are doing to address these incidents. A mere statement to the public is not enough. More needs to be done to assure our communities that the town is committed to addressing hate and racism in our town and to send a strong message that hate is not welcome in our town. “
I agree with Rani Parker. Platitudes about how “all residents and visitors [should] feel welcomed, accepted, and celebrated in Amherst” are of little value. As an engaged citizen, I do NOT want all residents or visitors to feel welcome in this town if they bring with them messages of hate. I want to see them and their hateful views exposed and disavowed by Town leadership.
Debora Ferreira is also correct: Town leadership must notify the appropriate organizations (CSSJC and HRC) about such incidents without delay.
At a time when these ugly incidents such as these are on the rise, all of us must be vigilant when the inner Nazi that is latent in every community gets hold of a can of spray paint to spread messages of hate and violence.
The absolute best way I know of getting a young person to do something is to say that the young person isn’t allowed to do it, to threaten punishment if the young person does it without the realistic ability to follow through on that threat.
First, it becomes a challenge to prove that you are brave enough and smart enough to do the thing you’re not supposed to do and get away with it. Remember, this has nothing to do with what the thing actually is, be it stealing a street sign or writing hateful graffiti somewhere.
Second, publicizing it is counterproductive — you are rewarding behavior that you neither want to reward nor encourage. The best thing to do is to quietly remove the graffiti. Document it and try to catch who’s doing it, but don’t reward these #$&@#s with the publicity that they so desperately seek.
Hopefully it is widely known that such things are not approved of, hopefully people are comfortable in the knowledge that such things aren’t approved of, and hence all you’re doing by making a fuss about it is encouraging more of it.
35 years ago, UMass Amherst proposed a list of banned words — a list of words that would not be allowed to be used on campus. Not withstanding the utter unconstitutionality of this, my response was simple: “You’re going to give 5,500 undergraduates (in southwest) a list of words that they’re not allowed to say, and honestly not expecting to have it read to you by intoxicated 19-year-olds screaming those words out of tower windows at 2 AM?”
It’s like twisting the cats’s tail, they probably would have no idea what many (most) of the words meant, only that someone would be upset if they say them, and they’ll get away with doing it. (This was before the cameras, and it was impossible to determine who had been in the lounges.)
So catch the people doing this, and deal with it that way, because merely making noise about it only serves to encourage more of it. And there is always the case of mental illness being involved, and sometimes you’ll be surprised at how that is reflected — and once you’ve widely publicize what the person has done, it becomes incredibly difficult to address what is a mental health issue in the way that a mental health issue should be addressed.
Don’t reward this behavior…
Ed Cutting, while I am inclined to agree with you about a list of banned words, I can’t agree that racist and threatening graffiti should not be publicized. When these things are happening repeatedly in our community, we need to know and we need to be demanding accountability. You are assuming that these are just some kids being troublemakers, not that there could be something more dangerous behind it. First, community members who are part of the targeted groups should be aware that there are threats being made so that they can respond in whatever way they feel they need to in order to keep themselves safe. Second, the chances of catching the people doing this are increased when we all know to be looking out for it. For example, about an hour ago I saw the triskele painted on an electrical box outside the Amherst Market on Triangle Street. I noticed it because it looked like the cousin of a swastika, but I wasn’t aware of its significance on its own. Now I know and can report it.