I spotted this swastika spraypainted on the sidewalk in the city of Richmond, California. The street where this photo was taken is not in the residential part of town, but adjacent to some business parks in a light industrial area next to the freeway. The road next to the swastika is frequently used for “sideshows” — late-night car-spinning and street-racing outdoor gang parties. The asphalt up and down the block is covered in skidmarks and tire-tracks.
In all my days in the Bay Area, I have practically never seen a swastika drawn as graffiti anywhere (outside of a political protest, of course). I had originally intended to note that Richmond is not known to have any neo-Nazi activity (the city is actually known for its large African-American community), until I noticed this article about a hate crime in Richmond in which a black man was beaten up by white teenagers spewing racist epithets. Racists in Richmond? What?
Here’s a close-up of the same swastika. I could speculate as to what the appearance of such a symbol means in this place and context, but the truth is I have no idea. I doubt it has any direct connection to the beating incident, but the swastika certainly is disturbing, I’ll say that for it.
(Note: This is not a photo of me, but rather
1pre-Boomer Marine brat on Feb 2, 2009 at 3:01 pm:
Someone probably thinks this sort of thing is fun to do.
/then they whine and bitch because they eventually wind up in the slammer.
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2CattusMagnus on Feb 2, 2009 at 5:43 pm:
Looks hastily drawn to me. I would think that a real neo-nazi would have taken more pride in illustrating their beloved symbol. It was probably just done by some pre-pubescent idiot on a dare. However, the “sideshows” don’t sound like good news. Well, let’s just hope karma kicks in and gives this guy a nice fender bender, or root canal, or something else similarly unpleasant.
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3Anonymous on Feb 2, 2009 at 8:45 pm:
Bored Zombie? Swastikas on sidewalks? This is not what we pay you for!
Oh… never mind. This website is free!
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4Ken on Feb 2, 2009 at 8:49 pm:
“Racists in Richmond? What?”
There are racists everywhere. There are even neo-Nazis in Israel.
“I could speculate as to what the appearance of such a symbol means in this place and context”
Some pseudo-rebellious 15-year-old douchebag wanted to attract attention by scrawling some offensive graffitti
OR
A real neo-Nazi painted it to intimidate minorities in the community, possibly with ties to the hate crime you mentioned
“the swastika certainly is disturbing”
Disturbing, yes. Noteworthy? Nah.
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5Fenris on Feb 3, 2009 at 10:51 am:
What’s the chalk drawing further down the sidewalk in the first picture? Could it put the swastika in context?
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6Anonymous on Feb 3, 2009 at 2:14 pm:
In our day it’s far more likely for a Muslim to draw this than an old-style white supremacist.
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7Mazz on Feb 7, 2009 at 8:17 am:
Just some dumb kid trying to be daring. If I was the businesses, I would aim a security camera at that street to catch these jackasses.
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8Common Reader on Feb 7, 2009 at 2:28 pm:
I grew up in SF and went to Berkeley for undergrad and I’ve seen probably hundreds of swastikas spraypainted and sharpied on stuff at the UC campus alone. Add in sidewalks, bathrooms, and public transportation in the rest of the Bay Area and it’s more like thousands. If this is the first you’ve seen you’re not looking very hard.
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9Render on Feb 8, 2009 at 3:49 am:
www . nsm88ca . com
Not a friendly link, but there it is…
SORRY Z,
R
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10Yael on Feb 16, 2009 at 5:35 am:
But but but… dontcha know? Swastikas “ignite dialogue.” http://web.grinnell.edu/sandb/archives/volume_121/number_18/news/article01.html
For more swastikas in America, simply search the ADL website… there are hundreds of examples. Don’t miss the one that was cut into a cornfield in New Jersey in 2007. It’s big.
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11Anonymous on Apr 30, 2009 at 10:35 am:
What’s the big brew ha-ha? There’s a nazi flag flying in one teacher’s class at Merced High School and its not causing any uproar! Maybe its time is over . . .
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