Graffiti a 'Hate Crime,' NAACP Official Says
By Arthur Santana
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 10, 2005
St. Mary's residents angry about racist graffiti spray-painted in the county last week gathered Monday near Lexington Park to denounce the epithets. And police promised to capture those responsible for the grafitti.
Nearly 200 people filled the pews at Zion United Methodist Church near Lexington Park to listen to a host of speakers condemn the spray-paintings, which were found Feb. 26 and 27 in the snow on the grounds of the Minority Business Alliance on Three Notch Road and on a car in a neighborhood behind the building.
Minority business owners in St. Mary's County, most of them black, gather at the building once a month. The building also houses an office of the St. Mary's County Branch of the NAACP, said its president, William Bowman.
The letters "KKK," the word "Kills" and the warning "[A racial epithet for African Americans] will die!" were written in the snow. In a trailer park neighborhood behind the building the same person probably spray-painted a swastika on the door of a car that belongs to a black man, said Lt. Brian Cedar, commander of the Maryland State Police Leonardtown barrack. The State Police and the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office are investigating the graffiti.
Bowman, who organized Monday's noontime meeting at the church, called the spray-paintings "hate crimes . . . designed to hurt as many people as possible, and that hurt remains long after the graffiti has been removed."
Cedar said such graffiti are rare in St. Mary's County. Even though authorities have no suspects in the case, he said, he is confident that whoever is responsible will be caught in the next week or two.
"A person who does something like this is bound to brag about it, and we're bound to hear about it," Cedar said. Addressing the gathering in the church earlier, Cedar promised that police would find the people who left the graffiti.
"We will find out who the cowards are behind this and bring them to justice," Cedar told the congregation and others at the church, who on a few occasions during the meeting were so moved by the often-spirited public comments that they burst into gospel hymns.
Some speakers recalled the plight of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement's critical years of the 1960s.
St. Mary's County commissioners President Thomas F. McKay (R-At Large) took the pulpit after Bowman and condemned the graffiti.
"I speak on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners and the citizens of this county in denouncing these hate crimes," McKay said. "It's absolutely wrong, and there is no place for it in St. Mary's County. If we cannot live in co-existence, it will be co-destruction."
Although some St. Mary's county commissioners called the graffiti "bumps in the road," other speakers were more emphatic.
"Racism is real, and it is increasing!" said the Rev. Leroy W. Boldley of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Scotland. "Maybe we have been too content. We have a lot of young people who have forgotten about their history."
Ken Walker, pastor of Zion United Methodist, called the racial epithets "evil."
"It's more than simply pranks, it's evil -- let's name it what it really is," Walker said. "We need to stand in solidarity. We cannot let evil stand like this. This is a call to action for us. Evil will cross into other counties if it hasn't already."
St. Mary's State's Attorney Richard D. Fritz (R), who was also at the meeting, said his office stands with the community.
"St. Mary's County will not become home to the Ku Klux Klan. It will not become home to any white supremacy group," he said. "As soon as these culprits are caught, the full weight of my office will be thrown at them."
Fritz said afterward that if the case came to his office, he would prosecute it as a hate crime. He said that because both cases of graffiti -- on the snow and on the car -- would be considered misdemeanors, the people responsible, if charged as adults, could each face a maximum of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The St. Mary's incidents brought to mind revelations about a possible racist motive in the Hunters Brooke arsons three months ago in Charles County. Cedar, of the State Police, said he does not believe the two cases are connected.
In the arson case, a recently released court affidavit recounts an interview with suspect Jeremy D. Parady, who suggested a racial motive for the Dec. 6 arsons.
The fires destroyed 10 unoccupied new houses and damaged 16 others. No evidence has been made public that the suspects were motivated by race.
In the interview with authorities, Parady, 20, said suspect Aaron L. Speed complained months before the fires that the "neighborhood is going black" and used racial epithets in referring to the owners of the new homes, according to the affidavit.
In the racist graffitti case, Cedar said officials plan to talk to neighborhood residents.
"Someone's bound to tell us who did it. I mean, nothing is guaranteed," Cedar said, "but it's about as sure as anything that we're going to identify a suspect."
Anyone with any information about the graffiti is asked to call St. Mary's Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. Callers may remain anonymous, and a reward of up to $2,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and indictment.