Williams: Vandals don't speak for us all

By: Michael Paul Williams | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: October 10, 2009

Not all the vestiges of hate had been scrubbed away in Forest Hill Park.

Uphill from where workers removed silt from the park's lake, a crude swastika had been drawn in the center of a pathway. Nearby, a message that mixed anti-black and anti Arab racism was scribbled on a boulder.

Last Saturday night, the vandals sprayed their messages -- some vile, at least one incomprehensible -- on backhoes and other construction equipment. One message still visible earlier this week had something to do with soap. I guess you have to speak the demented language of these folks to get the meaning.

This was a disturbing repeat of a Sept. 11 incident in Bryan Park. There, buildings and other structures were painted with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti.

Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said such graffiti happens fairly regularly.

"From time to time, it turns out to be teenagers trying to be as obnoxious as possible," he said. "More often than not, it turns out to be someone who is a committed white supremacist."

So there you have it: These could be hate-peddling skinheads pushing at the boundaries of social order or thrill-seeking kids pushing the envelope. Part of what makes graffiti so insidious is you often aren't sure.

Heck, this could be the work of an angry housewife. Three years ago, a King and Queen County woman sparked a media frenzy after claiming to return home to find it vandalized by racial slurs. As it turned out, she had spray-painted the epithets herself, according to the county sheriff.

It would be nice to ignore these cases, but that would be like ignoring a bomb threat to a crowded schoolhouse. Most of the time it's a hoax. But what if it isn't?

Besides, the price tag for the removal of the graffiti in Bryan Park was put at more than $1,000 -- another reason, beyond the hateful message, that taxpayers should be infuriated by this sort of activity.

Dwayne Brown, who was taking a lunchtime break earlier this week beneath a shelter at Forest Hill Park, described the vandals as a "bunch of idiots" who "can't find anything better to do."

But he's not paying the vandals any mind. "They're too cowardly to come in your face and say what they got to say. So they ain't worth it."

But Imad Dimaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition, said that "unfortunately, they keep coming again and again and again. I think education and awareness is the best antidote."

King Salim Khalfani, head of the Virginia NAACP, added: "It's getting to be a real frightening time because the racial tensions are exacerbated when economic times are bad."

Jordan Shenker, executive director of the Weinstein JCC, said: "I think there's always cause for concern when there are any signs in the community of unrest or discrimination. That said, I think our community has a strong track record of coming together" and embracing diversity.

"Do I think it's systemic? No," Shenker said, adding that it takes only a few folks to make a big noise of this sort.

Those responsible have garnered a few minutes of fame by defacing our parks with their disgusting messages. The best thing we can do is come together as a community with a message of our own: This is not who we are.

Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.