Victims Of Hate Crime Speak Out About Living In Homes Marked With Swastikas
BALDWIN HILLS (CBS) — Somebody scrawled swastikas all over the garages of three Baldwin Hills homes overnight.
Tonight, those homeowners are speaking out.
Rachel Kim, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, spoke to victims of the hate crime.
Said neighbor Howard Gray, "It's a great neighborhood. Everybody treats each other with respect and dignity."
Jonathan Brewer told Kim he was in disbelief when he saw what was scrawled on his garage. "I saw the swastikas and I just couldn't believe it."
On Gray's door, also the words "White Power."
Said Gray, "I don't like it. If you have nothing better to go than to do things like this, you don't need to be around people."
Police said someone used a marker to write out the crude messages.
Valencia Harvey has already painted over the messages on her door. "I felt frightened. Disbelief. Helplessness."
Harvey's daughter captured the images on her cell phone.
The third victim lived down the block ... a 102-year-old woman who has lived on the block since 1963.
Said Brewer, "She doesn't need to go through 102 years of life to have someone paint a swastika on her garage door."
While three homes were vandalized, the entire community is closing ranks.
And they have a message for the person or persons responsible.
Said Valencia Harvey, "Why? What have I done to you to do something of this magnitude? This is hate. Ugh!"
And Brewer has a warning. "We're not gonna run scared over this. Don't come back here."
