{"id":22045,"date":"2017-08-23T15:47:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T19:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=22045"},"modified":"2017-08-23T15:47:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T19:47:58","slug":"officials-denounce-neo-nazi-graffiti-in-coatesville-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=22045","title":{"rendered":"Officials denounce Neo-Nazi graffiti in Coatesville, Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Police are looking for information about who tagged walls, signs, pavement and a car with racist graffiti in Coatesville\u2019s West End and neighboring Valley Township, late Tuesday evening. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to police, a person or persons spray painted swastikas and racial epithets on walls garage doors and a Mercedes Benz, along with Neo-Nazi\/White Supremacists codes. Police said that because of the type of paint used in the various locations, it is thought to be the work one person or group of persons. A total of three locations were hit in the city\u2019s West Side, with more locations, including street signs and pavement, in Valley. <\/span><\/p>\n

While police in Coatesville and Valley continue to investigate \u2013 and seek leads from the community \u2014 a number of local elected officials have issued statements condemning the actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet me perfectly clear: there is absolutely no room for this kind of hate in our communities. Not now. Not here in Chester County. Not anywhere,\u201d state Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-19) said. \u201cWe must continue to come together and renounce this for what it is \u2013 unacceptable garbage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe must reaffirm the very values upon which our county was founded \u2013 values of tolerance and freedom that emanated from Chester County\u2019s Quaker tradition, have been reaffirmed by other faith traditions, and are a fundamental part of our Commonwealth and ultimately our nation,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dinniman noted he sees this as a growing trend, nationally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, this appears to be part of a larger trend that\u2019s occurring all over the country,\u201d he said. \u201cEarlier this year, we saw the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia. It is extremely disturbing, disappointing, and disgusting that after how far we\u2019ve come as a nation that such hate still exists, but it does and our region is not immune to it. Still, cowards who vandalize under cover of night will not intimidate us. The steel of our communities is in our diversity. The strength of our nation is in our unity. In the words of Dr. King, \u2018<\/span>We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

State Rep. Harry Lewis Jr., (R-74), who is African-American and has had personal experience with the civil rights struggles of the past, expressed horror at the graffiti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI recall a time in my life when African-Americans and other minorities couldn\u2019t respond to hatred,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cFear silenced our emotions, and the consequences were beyond belief. I recall a time when my friends and I couldn\u2019t dine at a restaurant simply because we were minorities. We retaliated by refusing to leave. While being chased out of that restaurant, we were shot at by white supremacists. There was no other explanation other than it was hate. This was a few decades ago, and it could have happened to anybody.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur community can do better; this isn\u2019t the real Coatesville. This isn\u2019t the home filled with all of the wonderful students and athletes who I\u2019ve loved and respected. Our home takes pride in our racial differences, and our home stands tall for equality. Look at your neighbors. We are all different and we must accept and embrace one another. Our home can do better.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt breaks my heart that we still have to fight for equality and against hatred. As the first African-American legislator in Chester County, I won\u2019t stop. Our community has come too far to stop fighting. We\u2019ve broken too many barriers. To the criminals who vandalized private property and thought they can set our community back, we won\u2019t tolerate the hatred.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are a community of diversity. We are black, white, Hispanic, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, gay, straight. We\u2019re white, gray and blue collar.\u00a0The hate of those who cannot respect their neighbors has no place in our community. Racial slurs won\u2019t change us, and Nazi symbols won\u2019t scare us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come too far to be set back. We\u2019re moving forward with purpose and most importantly, we\u2019re moving forward together as a united community of all races, religions and differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud of who we are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the meaning of the swastikas and use of pejorative \u2014 racist and hostile \u2014 slang for African-Americans are evident to all, the numerical code might not be, but the numbers used are common code for Neo-Nazis and White Supremacist groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Anti Defamation League, \u201c1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14<\/span><\/a>, which is shorthand for the “14 Words<\/span><\/a>” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The second is 88<\/span><\/a>, which stands for “Heil Hitler” (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs. As such, they are ubiquitous within the white supremacist movement – as graffiti, in graphics and tattoos, even in screen names and e-mail addresses, such as aryanprincess1488@hate.net.\u00a0 Some white supremacists will even price racist merchandise, such as t-shirts or compact discs, for $14.88.The symbol is most commonly written as 1488 or 14\/88, but variations such as 14-88 or 8814 are also common.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the same is true for the 23:16 code:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe number combination 23\/16 is a numeric symbol used by white supremacists, particularly common on the West Coast. Substituting letters for numbers, the 23\/16 equates to W\/P<\/span><\/a> or “White Power.” Occasionally the number 23 appears by itself, as a condensed version. Sometimes the combination is rendered as 16\/23, in which case it is usually intended to mean P\/W for “peckerwood<\/span><\/a>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the Coatesville incidents is asked to contact city police at (610) 383-7000. Tips can also be made by texting \u201cCoatesville\u201d + your tip to 847411 or online here<\/span><\/a>. Anyone with information about the Valley incidents should contact the Valley Township Police Department at 610-384-8133.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Police are looking for information about who tagged walls, signs, pavement and a car with racist graffiti in Coatesville\u2019s West End and neighboring Valley Township, late Tuesday evening. According to police, a person or persons spray painted swastikas and racial epithets on walls garage doors and a Mercedes Benz, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[185,6269,3610,9464,9504,556,4819],"class_list":["post-22045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-coatesville","tag-featured","tag-graffiti","tag-hate","tag-state-rpe-harry-lewis-jr","tag-state-sen-andy-dinniman","tag-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22046,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22045\/revisions\/22046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}