BOSTON (WHDH) - Activists in South Boston plan to stand in solidarity Friday after racist messages were found spray-painted outside of Tynan Elementary School.
Parents and community members greeted students just before 8 a.m. to show their support, an act Interim Superintendent Laura Perille appreciated.
“The kind of hatred and violent language that we saw displayed here is unacceptable in any setting in any part of our city, but particularly around our children whose learning environment needs to be protected,” she said. “We are grateful for the community’s support out here this morning to remind us all that we stand together, that hate has no home here.”
Custodian Logan Thompson discovered the hateful graffiti when he showed up for work Wednesday around 5:45 a.m.
“It was on every door, ‘we’re gonna get you,’ ‘we’re gonna kill you’ and loading dock had ‘whitey forever,’ ‘winter hill gang,’ ‘south gangs,’ ‘keep south white,’” he recalled.
Thompson added that he feels the racist graffiti was directed towards him.
“As I kept walking the building, I saw the year, make and model of my car was posted on the wall and it said ‘we were gonna get you,’” he said.
Thompson, who recently took over the maintenance job, said he’s not going to be run out of town.
“They don’t know me yet so I guess they could be trying to scare me away but I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “This is my job, I love it here and we’re just gonna get through it.”
Boston Public Schools brought in behavioral health staff and school psychologists for students and staff who needed support following the incident. They also notified parents.
“BPS treasures the cultural diversity of our community, which includes young people and adults of an extraordinary array of racial, ethnic, religious and other identities,” BPS said in a statement. “Incidents like this are in no way reflective of the safe, secure, and supportive environment that the Boston Public Schools are committed to fostering, nor the values embodied by our students, staff, and families, each of whom are valued members of our community.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh added that the “horrifying and heinous” messages are “a complete misrepresentation of who we are as a city.”
“Racism and threats of this nature will not be tolerated in our schools or in the City of Boston,” he added. “To whoever wrote this message, you should be ashamed for spreading this message of hate where our young people go to learn. Boston is a place that is welcoming and inclusive of all. The Boston police are conducting an investigation and any individuals involved will be held accountable for their actions.”
Boston police are asking for the public’s help in identifying those responsible for the graffiti, which they say defaced the school between the hours of 11 p.m. Tuesday and the time it was discovered the following morning.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Civil Rights Unit at (617) 343-4527.
Children being greeted as they get off the bus @7News pic.twitter.com/Fxt7f1TQxT
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