OAK PARK, Illinois (CBS) – The hated racist graffiti was discovered on Friday at Oak Park and River Forest High School, and now the police are involved.
As reported on Friday night by Jermont Terry of CBS 2, this was the second time Oak Park police were called to the school just this week. This time they went to the toilet and started investigating what another student had done.
Two images of vandalism caused fear and concern to the OPRF. In the first picture, someone scribbled the word N and a swastika on a pedestal in the bathroom.
The second image shows on the wall the same racial removal and anti-Semitic graffiti.
The student found graffiti on Friday around 11 a.m. in the boys’ bathroom on the second floor, the school said.
“We see it in a lot of schools,” said Alison Per-Slovin, principal Simon Wiesenthal Center.
She explained the mission of her organization.
“Human rights for all people,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who you worship when you worship who you love, where you come from.”
The center compiles a digital hate report across the country and Illinois.
“That’s the problem. The Internet is a problem, ”Chisty-Slovin said. “If you go through websites – a deep, dark web – they displace hatred, and believe me, if they hate a Jew, they will hate an African-American.”
Pure-Slovin believes the school district should take appropriate action to combat this latest language of hostility in high school.
“We’re going to talk to the supervisor,” she said, “because, unfortunately, this isn’t the first incident at this school.”
Back in 2018, similar hateful words appeared in the same high school – but the difference in the incident this time is that the school district is not the only organization taking action.
Police are also conducting an investigation to find out who is behind the hated graffiti.
“The fact that the police are investigating tells me that they are finally taking anti-Semitism very seriously,” Chisty-Slovin said.
And it happened to students the same week arrested on school grounds with a loaded pistolPure-Slovin says you can’t take risks.
“We need to take any threat seriously,” she said. “We don’t know who the lone wolf is.”
Heads of schools sent a letter to parents, calling what was found in the school toilet, hate speech and “crime.”
“Please note that the publication of hate speech or symbols disseminates them and has unintended harmful consequences for the communities it targets. If you see any hate speech on school premises but do not publish it, report it immediately to security. Hello, the center by dialing 3125 if you are in the building, or call 708-434-3125 if you are outside the building, “said school principal Linda Parker in a statement.
We know that there are cameras in the corridors – part of the internal investigation will include their inspection.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/hateful-anti-semitic-graffiti-found-inside-bathroom-at-oak-park-and-river-forest-high-school/
