Leaked video shows unity mural being vandalized
Work will begin in spring to restore, update the mural
BOYERTOWN » A leak of data from the white nationalist group Patriot Front published by a nonprofit news site contained video of the defacing of the No Place for Hate mural in October that police say may be useful in catching the vandals.
The information, links to which are contained in a Jan. 21 article by a media platform named Unicorn Riot, highlights the group’s nationwide campaign to deface murals and monuments, coordinate activities, and contains videos and photos of rallies and training and which are shared to boost morale, and contributions, among its members.
Among the data uncovered and released by Unicorn Riot is a video taken during the defacement of the Boyertown mural.
The video, which is very dark, shows the approach of the wall and in addition to the sound of spray paint cans being shaken, someone can be heard to say “I need more light.”
The video shows what seems to be three perpetrators plus the person holding the camera, all wearing masks, dark baseball hats and one is wearing blue rubber gloves. All those visible on camera appear to be white.
They sprayed black paint over part of the collection of diverse individuals shown in the mural’s parade, and white paint on another section to serve as a base for a Patriot Front stencil. They can be heard on the video warning when cars are approaching and saying “good
enough” as they finish. Another voice says “excellent.”
The database released by Unicorn Riot also included “before” and “after” photos of the mural.
Ironically, when police arrived at the scene on Oct. 6, they discovered that security cameras at the site, alongside a Rita’s Water Ice at the corner of North Franklin Street and East Philadelphia Avenue, had been spray-painted, presumably to ensure the vandals were not recorded committing the act.
But the vandals then shot their own video of the crime, which has now been released.
Eastern Berks Police Chief Barry Leatherman said Tuesday he is aware of the video and he is hopeful it will help move the investigation forward.
“It’s definitely a break and it gives us something more to work on,” he said. “We’re going to take some still shots from the video and see if we can identify any of the people.”
“I was just on a call this morning with members of the Anti-Defamation League who were giving us information about the
group,” Leatherman told MediaNews Group Tuesday.
Investigators had already been in touch with the Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center, a resource run by the Pennsylvania State Police, about the case and Leatherman said it’s likely they will be helpful again with this new information.
He invited people to view the video for any clues about the identity of the vandals and urged anyone with information to contact his department at 610-369-3050.
Leatherman also said those who want to help but want to do so anonymously can call Crime Alert Berks
at 1-877-373-9913 to leave a tip. He said tips that lead to arrests provide cash rewards.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups around the country, Patriot Front “an image-obsessed organization that rehabilitated the explicitly fascist agenda of Vanguard America with garish patriotism. Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country.”
The group “formed in the aftermath of the deadly ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., of Aug. 12, 2017. The organization broke off from Vanguard America (VA), a neo-Nazi group that participated in the chaotic demonstration,” according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center. Patriot Front’s “founder, Thomas Rousseau, led VA members during ‘Unite the Right,’ including James Alex Fields Jr., the young man accused of murdering anti-racist protester Heather Heyer after fatally driving his vehicle into a crowd of protesters.”
Patriot Front’s “formal break from (Vanguard America) came amidst a movement-wide debate over the effectiveness of public demonstrations and the issue of optics in the wake of “Unite the Right,” which resulted in widespread condemnation from the mainstream public,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group staged marches last year in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. There is a video of the group being chased out of Philadelphia by a mob during a botched march in July.
According to the leaked data examined by Unicorn Riot journalists, “actions that help meet the official member requirements sometimes include spray painting official Patriot Front stencils on public or private property, painting over racial justice murals, as well as stealing, defacing or destroying pro-diversity yard signs and flags from homes and businesses.”
“In June 2021, the group defaced a mural memorializing George Floyd in Olney and later claimed responsibility for it on its private message boards,” according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The group had been pushing a propaganda campaign that included handing out leaflets, spraying graffiti, and pasting stickers throughout the Philadelphia suburbs and Lehigh Valley,” Shira Goodman, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia chapter, told the Inquirer.
“Members of Patriot Front’s Pacific Northwest chapter, including Brown, also defaced a mural in Portland, OR in July 2021 honoring the lives of Breonna
Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery,” Unicorn Front reported. “When we did the George Floyd one,” one member said in an audio call with Rousseau and other Patriot Front members, “we were in and out maybe two minutes. It was really fast and we got up the URL stencillike three times,” according to the article.
The video of the mural defacement in Boyertown is only two minutes and 40 seconds.
In the wake of the mural’s defacement, community members rallied at the site, vowing to restore their mural and insisting that a hate group would not define their community.
“No Place for Hate” is more than just a rallying cry on a mural, it is a program of the Anti-Defamation League and Boyertown was the first school district in Pennsylvania to be certified under its program, a certification it has repeated for years.
As for the mural itself, Jillian Magee, manager of Building a Better Boyertown, said the group had hoped to raise $10,000 to restore the mural. Instead, “we received slightly more than $18,000,” she said Tuesday.
“We are thrilled at how the community came out and supported the restoration efforts,” Magee said.
The mural has been power washed and the original artist, Amanda Candict, is working with muralist Carrie Kingsbury of Promiseland Murals on an updated version.
The new mural “will be updated to show even more diversity,” said Magee. She said some individuals have served as models for the updated mural, “so it won’t just be anonymous individuals, but people who actually live in the community,” she said.
The work on the mural is likely to begin in early spring, and Magee said there “will definitely be some community days for people who want to help out.”