Manhattan Beach elementary school playground tagged with racist graffiti
A South Bay elementary school had hateful, anti-Semitic messages spray painted all over the school playground, the sixth incident of this type to happen in the area in the last year.
The graffiti, which was spray painted on the blacktop at Meadows Elementary School, possibly at night, was discovered Thursday morning, while kids were out on the playground.
"It's a gut punch," said a man who only wanted to be identified as JB. "I don't think that's something anyone would want their children exposed to."
JB said he wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from some in the Manhattan Beach community, but he shared the photos of the anti-Semitic image and at least two instances of the N-word spray painted on the playground.
"Because there's so much hate fueled through somebody to do something like that, you can only imagine what happens when it's met with exposure," JB said.
The Manhattan Beach School District said the racist graffiti was quickly removed when it was discovered Thursday morning.
It's the latest in a string of hateful and racist vandalism on at least two district campuses.
"It's just really sad to see that around this neighborhood, any neighborhood to be honest with," parent Kent Chiu said. "It's a kids playground. We want the kids to have a safe place to play."
Another parent, Fidencio Chaidez, agreed.
"It's just pretty horrible to actually see something like this in the school grounds," he said.
The incident occurred just one day after the return of Bruce's Beach, a prime stretch of property in Manhattan Beach that was formally handed back to the descendants of a Black couple it was seized from more than a century ago.
RELATED: Manhattan Beach property seized from Black couple formally returned to Bruce family grandsons
The land was taken from Charles and Willa Bruce, a wealthy Black couple, in 1924 using eminent domain.
"To turn around and have this happen, it's almost like one step forward and three steps back," JB said.
City and district leaders condemned the racist act, with Mayor Steve Napolitano releasing a statement that read in part:
"Stupidity may not be a crime, but what they did is, and we should all be concerned...We've seen far too many things like this lately and it needs to stop. Hate has no home in Manhattan Beach.
While the timing is suspicious, the city said it doesn't appear that the graffiti is connected to the celebration of Bruce's Beach.
Meanwhile, police in Manhattan Beach encourage anyone with information about the incident to contact the department.
