Racist Graffiti: The N-Word In “Every Hallway” February 4, 2008

The Anti-Racist Blog, a wonderful blog dedicated to exposing hatred, ran this extremely disturbing report of brazen racist and anti-Semitic graffiti being scrawled at Massachusetts’ Anna Maria college, as Black History Month was just opening:

An investigation is under way to find out who penned anti-Semitic and racist graffiti inside a coed residence, Madonna Hall, at Anna Maria College, according to AMC President Jack P. Calareso.

The graffiti was discovered by AMC security staff during routine rounds Thursday night, according to Paula L. Green, spokeswoman for the college. Calling the graffiti a “heinous act,” Mr. Calareso pledged to pursue the investigation and cooperate with local police until the person or people responsible are held accountable…She said the graffiti, which she believed was done with a marker, was photographed for the investigation and then immediately removed.

Several students, however, said the graffiti included the words white power and swastikas, and a racial epithet was scrawled on the dorm-room doors of two black male students. The students, who did not want to be identified by name, said that despite the increased security, they do not feel safe.

“Today is the first day of Black History Month, so it’s kind of ironic that in every single hallway at Anna Maria is (scrawled) the word n*gger,” one of the students said. She complained that a student was allowed to walk around campus during the early part of last semester wearing a jacket emblazoned with a swastika.

The story was also covered in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

I think the security here, if this students’ words are true, is too little too late. A student walked around in public with a swastika on his jacket? I am almost positive that this kid had friends (either on- or off-line). This means the area — if not the school itself — has a neo-Nazi presence and that, in my opinion, is enough cause to enlist some sort of extra protection for minority students. It is truly lamentable that it often takes something like this to cause change.

It is my hope that the new security “cleans house” of these racists, enabling their minority students to feel safe once again.