Racist graffiti reported after Trump’s election

Social media users in the US are posting images and stories about racist graffiti linked to Donald Trump supporters, one day after Trump was elected the next president of the United States.

One Facebook post showing racist graffiti scrawled on a wall at a high school in Minnesota made the rounds on the social networking site.

In response, Maple Grove High School published a letter to parents on their website, announcing that the school had launched an investigation into the incident. The school’s principal, Bart Becker, wrote, “I am horrified by this action, which goes against everything for which our school stands; it is completely contrary to our core values, both as a school and as a district.”

New York University’s Muslim Students Association posted a photo of the word “Trump!” written on the door of their prayer room the morning of November 9. “Our campus is not immune to the bigotry that grips America”, the association said. At the time of writing, the Facebook post has been shared over 5,500 times.

Police officers were called to a shop in South Philadelphia on Wednesday morning after reports of graffiti including swastikas, the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil”, and Trump’s name, according to local newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The shop front on South Broad Street was later cleaned by a town worker. A white SUV was spray-painted with the words “Trump Rules” and “Black Bitch” at another location in South Philadelphia.

City Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement that “the acts of political and racial vandalism that occurred this morning in South Philadelphia must be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” adding that “Philadelphians must work tirelessly to bridge the divides that have plagued this nation for decades”.

He urged residents protesting against a Trump presidency to “gather respectfully and peacefully.”  Anti-Trump vandalism has appeared elsewhere. A tag equating Trump with racism appeared on the Nebraska State Capitol building overnight on Tuesday.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, state university buildings were covered with a similar kind of vandalism. One message read “I love fascism”, with the word Trump painted on top of the heart symbol. 

And in Missoula, a city in Montana, a bridge was defaced, including a call to deport Trump and a picture of a carrot captioned with the message, “I love carrots just not the one we elected.” 

This sort of graffiti already existed long before Trump won the election. During the campaign season, there were many reports of racist and Islamophobic graffiti referencing Trump across the country, including in Mississippi, California, New Jersey, and Vermont.

Violent graffiti has also targeted Trump supporters, notably in North Carolina, where a GOP office was firebombed and defaced with messages comparing Republicans to the KKK, and in Massachusetts, where someone wrote “Kill your local Trump supporter” on a Boston street, just days before the election.

Article written by France 24 journalist Catherine Bennett.