OREGON – AUGUST 17: A woman looks out of the bus window at a small rural Oregon town on one of the last days Greyhound bus company will continue the route August 17, 2004 in Oregon. Greyhound, the iconic bus company, will stop servicing over 260 small communities west of Chicago, including Goldendale, as of August 17, 2004. For many of these communities, Greyhound is the last form of affordable public transportation for people wishing to get out of their communities to larger cities and towns. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Graffiti stating that ‘Hitler did nothing wrong’ was found on a bus stop shelter in Oregon on June 14.
The World Link reported that the words, in black spray-paint, were surrounded with multiple swastikas. The bus stop is in Coos Bay, a city northwestern Oregon.
Coos County Area Transit General Manager David Hope told the Link that a city employee had informed him about the graffiti on June 14 and that officials believe it was painted sometime during the afternoon of June 14. He added that he had seen similar graffiti in Florida, where he lived for 35 years.
“This happens frequently to bus stops and shelters and everything,” Hope said. “It can be graffiti, broken windows, all sorts of things that can happen to bus stop signs and shelters. So, not uncommon nationwide.”
Coos Bay Deputy Chief of Police Chris Chapanar told the Link that he hasn’t seen such graffiti in Coos Bay before.
“I can’t even remember the last time we had anything like this,” he said. “So it’s random. Definitely not a pattern. Not right now anyway.”
Anti-Defamation League Pacific Northwest Regional Director Miri Cypers said in a statement to the Journal, “We’re disturbed to learn of the recent anti-Semitic vandalism that took place at a Coos Bay, Oregon bus shelter. We thank a community member for reporting this hateful incident to the transit authority and urge law enforcement to fully investigate this incident.
She added: “Hate and anti-Semitism have no place in Oregon or in any of our communities.”
The Stop Anti-Semitism.org watchdog director Liora Rez similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “We’re extremely disappointed but sadly not surprised. These daily anti-Semitic occurrences are a massive wakeup call to the Jewish community that it’s time to put our differences aside and unite in the fight against anti-Semitism, regardless of which direction it comes from.”
Atrocious – "Hitler Did Nothing Wrong" and multiple swastikas were found spray painted on a bus stop in Oregon.
More here: https://t.co/lRHCYfI1Vc @Oregonian pic.twitter.com/KIEc0n4t0F
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 18, 2020
Some past examples of anti-Semitic graffiti in Oregon include graffiti of a swastika at Cleveland High School in southeast Portland in 2018; the same year, a swastika and what appeared to be the words “#JEWDIE” were depicted at Lewis Elementary School in the same area. Additionally in 2018, the words “Free Palestine you f—s” were scrawled on a University of Oregon Hillel sign.
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