Boston Metropolis Councilor Ed Flynn, a U.S. Navy veteran, blasted a “disgusting” hate crime that left a number of monuments within the Frequent and Public Backyard defaced with “antisemitic and anti-American” graffiti on the eve of Independence Day.
Flynn was readily available on the Troopers and Sailors Monument, devoted to U.S. servicemen from the town who died within the Civil Warfare, within the Boston Frequent Friday, the place, regardless of the efforts of metropolis cleansing crews, messages of “Free Palestine” and “Death to Amerikkka” have been nonetheless noticeable on the monument, stairs and benches.
“On July 3 into July 4, to desecrate and vandalize memorials to American soldiers and sailors and our veterans is beyond disappointing,” stated Flynn, whereas clad in a U.S. Navy baseball cap. “It’s disgusting and there should be no place in society for that type of hate crime.”
Flynn stated he’s searching for arrests to be made, and if there’s sufficient proof to warrant bringing hate crime prices in opposition to the perpetrator(s), he helps that and would push for the acts of vandalism to be prosecuted that method as nicely.
“I do believe these are hate crimes when you target the Jewish community with horrific messages and you also target American veterans,” Flynn stated.
A Boston Police report categorizes the vandalism, which occurred on the evening of July 3, roughly 10 minutes earlier than the beginning of the Independence Day vacation, as a “hate/bias” crime that was referred to the division’s civil rights unit.
About six “unknown” suspects have been caught on surveillance digicam, however no arrests have been made as of Friday night, the report and a police spokesman stated.
Upon arrival, a responding officer “observed 15 benches around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument vandalized with graffiti and it said ‘Death to Amerikkka,’” the police report states.
The message was seemingly referencing the KKK or Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist far-right terror group, and was significantly notable for being scrawled on and round a monument devoted to the Civil Warfare, which led to the top of slavery in america.
Flynn stated he was unsure as to what the reference was about particularly, by way of the way in which it appeared within the anti-American graffiti, however he interpreted it as a message of “division,” “hate” and “violence that has no place in our city.”
The identical message was scrawled in the identical crimson paint on the monument, together with one which learn “Free Palestine.” The monument was additionally lined “all over” in stickers that stated, “Resist until victory and free Palestine.”
Whereas the police report references solely the vandalism that occurred on and across the Troopers and Sailors monument, Flynn pointed to photographs, which he posted on social media, that present related messages painted onto the equestrian statue of George Washington within the Public Backyard and the Public Backyard Foot Bridge.
These respective messages learn, “End Zionism” and “Free Gaza.”
Mayor Michelle Wu stated police are investigating the incident, whereas chatting with reporters at an unrelated occasion on Friday.
She thanked Metropolis Corridor staff who labored all through the July 4 vacation to scrub up the graffiti from the Frequent and Backyard, areas that Wu described as “some of the most visible places in the city,” significantly throughout every week when guests have been coming from “all around the city and region and world.”
A lot of the vandalism was centered across the Israel-Hamas Warfare, however Boston’s Commissioner of Veterans Companies Robert Santiago, upon seeing the light graffiti on the Frequent for the primary time Friday afternoon, stated defacing monuments “really does no good to anyone’s cause.”
“It’s just sad and frustrating,” Santiago stated. “Defacing monuments that are there for honoring the sacrifices of our sailors and soldiers in this case over here, it really does nobody any good.”
Including insult to damage was the struggle monuments have been vandalized “on the eve of the birth of our country,” Santiago stated. “It’s just frustrating.”
