SIGNS OF TROUBLE
B’KLYN HOMES WITH BLM PLACARDS VANDALIZED
A Brooklyn bigot left a spraypainted message of hate on the steps of several Cobble Hill buildings with “Black Lives Matter” signs displayed in the windows.
The message “white power” was scrawled outside several residences, including the home of the block’s lone black family, with word of the grotesque graffiti spreading initially through the neighborhood via social media.
One hate message was in front of Amanda Jack, 39, a public defender with a toddler and another child on the way.
”It’s pretty overtly racist,” she said. “It’s disgusting and cowardly.”
“I grew up in a rural town where the KKK was active, this doesn’t surprise me,” she added. “This shows that speaking out for the rights of black people is getting under some people’s skin.”
Some local residents quickly scrubbed away the racist words after the messages appeared this past Sunday in an effort to erase the hate before the black family returned home from vacation to the block of Clinton St. between Kane and DeGraw Sts.
But the family read about the racist remarks before arriving back in the neighborhood.
“I felt sick,” said Meredith Fisher, 49, mother of two sons ages 10 and 6. “I felt disgusted and sad. … Of course I’m saddened, and repulsed, and scared. But at the same time, it’s not like I didn’t know there are people who hold deeply racist beliefs.”
Fisher said she didn’t intend to share the details with her boys, feeling the vile sentiment would scare the kids. The family moved into the upscale Brooklyn enclave about six years ago.
Neighbor Josh Frankel, 48, expressed his dismay over the shocking appearance of the racist messages.
“Obviously it’s upsetting and disappointing,” he said Tuesday.
Fisher’s friend and house sitter Robert Pearson, 39, said he became aware of what happened when he spotted an embarrassed neighbor trying to wipe away the “white power” message.
Pearson, a mixed-race British television producer, described the scrawled words as “one of those mindless racist acts.”
Pearson said the neighbors welcomed him to the neighborhood during a number of stays inside the home over the last 18 months, and he never felt anything but comfortable. The racial invective was not reported to police, according to local residents.
Fisher said this was the first racial incident since she moved into Cobble Hill, but said dealing with hate was part of life for many black Americans.
“Racism permeates the lives of black people everyday,” she said. “It’s definitely a very white neighborhood, so my family sticks out, so I am always aware of that.”