Racists vandalize 10 sites in Longview
Sunday, October 1, 2006 12:01 AM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleWhite supremacist graffiti was spray-painted across 10 Longview locations overnight Friday, marring property and the town's image, city leaders said.
Longview police said 10 buildings, vehicles or signs had been found with spray-painted slogans or symbols as of Saturday afternoon and urged anyone who knows about it to talk to authorities. The affected area stretched from the 800 block of Ninth Avenue out to the skate park at 28th Avenue and Douglas Street, said Officer Mike Rabideau. As of Saturday police had no suspects.
Some of the victims were black, but others appear to have been targeted at random. Swastikas as well as the words "white war" and SWP -- which stands for supreme white power -- were found on several of the sites.
Loren Hart just shook his head as he stood outside the House of Prayer church at Ninth Avenue and Delaware Street shortly after a large black swastika was discovered on the front doors Saturday morning. Across the street the sign for the Victoria Freeman Park -- named for a local civil rights pioneer -- had two white swastikas and the words "white power" written down the side.
"I don't know what to think," Hart said. "It's a shame."
Hart, who is black, said he and his parents grew up here and while there were minor incidents of discrimination, he'd never "seen anything like this."
Hart said he's heard there are Aryan Nations members living in town and speculated that someone with those beliefs would object to the black and Latino residents that frequent both the park and church.
"It kind of shakes you up," said E.M. Jackson, the church's 95-year-old bishop. "They're trying to stir something up but I don't really know what it is."
Jackson, also black, has been pastor at the church since 1978. He said he feels racial tensions have worsened in recent years but believes it is from people who moved to the area, not longtime residents.
In March 2005 Easter eggs filled with racist literature were found in two Longview neighborhoods, including Jackson's church. Eight months later the city of Kelso held a rally to support an inter-racial couple who returned home to find racial slurs painted on their house, their telephone lines cut and three large rocks thrown through their window.
In August of this year racist graffiti was found spray-painted on the pavement in the 900 block of Ninth Avenue in Longview, outside the home of a biracial resident.
Rabideau said he can remember previous hate crime incidents with fliers but never such a widespread racist graffiti campaign. The hate behind the words and symbols are of particular concern, he said, and anyone who sees someone doing this should call 911 immediately to help police catch them.
Anyone with general information may call the department's main business office at 442-5800.
Longview Mayor Dennis Weber said he was saddened and disgusted to hear the news and said it doesn't reflect the real feelings of Longview residents.
"This isn't acceptable in this community," he said, adding he hoped it was misguided youth who don't understand the magnitude of the words and symbols rather than true white supremacists.
Teresa Spain, whose truck was spray-painted, said she, too, wants to believe it's someone being stupid but said the words and symbols hurt just the same. She lives near the Longview Skate Park and worries kids will see words and symbols and perhaps copy them not knowing their true meaning.
"We have a dark side to our heritage where the Ku Klux Klan had a presence years and years ago, but those are things we've worked pretty long and hard to overcome," Weber said. "So it's always disappointing when people revert to a lower life form like this."
Though shaken, Jackson said he won't let the paint on the door disrupt this mornings worship service at his church. He hopes to have the doors repainted by Monday and said he plans to only mention it briefly during his service.
"It's not going to deter us from worship," he said. "We're just going to try to get past this."
Past Month's Most Commented Stories