Racist and hateful graffiti, including multiple swastikas and a threat of a school shooting, was discovered last week on the walls of an elite Manhattan high school, authorities said Monday.
Police said the disturbing graffiti included messages such as “I hate black people” and “I’m going to shoot up my school.” Police said they were found Thursday in a bathroom stall at Beacon School on West 44th Street near 11th Street in Hell’s Kitchen.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the troubling vandalism, and as of Monday evening, no arrests had been made, police confirmed.
The school, founded in 1993, enrolls approximately 1,500 students and is the alma mater of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter Chiara.
Following the incident, Department of Education spokesperson Nathaniel Stair said Premier David Banks had “repeatedly made clear that all forms of bigotry and hatred, including anti-Semitism, have no place in public schools.” .
“In January, he tackled this issue head-on, stressing that education and appropriate consequences must be central to addressing the bigoted beliefs and misconceptions that students may bring to school.” Steyer said in a statement Monday.
“Once discovered, the bathroom was immediately locked and the NYPD was notified,” Steyer said. “We have increased security at the school out of an abundance of caution as the NYPD continues its investigation.”
Beacon Principal Johnny A. Ventura called the racist graffiti “deplorable and unacceptable” in a series of messages to families. Obtained by the New York Times.
“As a Black Latino, my first emotion when I heard and saw this was anger, and then sadness that someone at our school would choose to write this,” Ventura said. wrote. “At Beacon, we embrace diversity and inclusion. A threat to one of us is a threat to all of us.”
When students arrived Monday morning, they saw two police cruisers outside the school’s entrance, the Times reported.
“I was shocked,” student Eva Baranowski, 15, told the newspaper, but said she still felt “pretty safe.”
Baranowski added that some students may have viewed the graffiti as a “joke,” “but this is really serious,” she said.
“I think there were a lot of people who were scared to come to school on Friday,” the sophomore said.
Beacon’s “Capital statement” touts its commitment to “holistically care for all members of our diverse communities by consistently accounting for our actions and redressing structural inequalities.”
“In the context of a white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist, and patriarchal society, we commit energy and resources to a school environment that is vigilant, self-reflective, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive.” A statement posted on the website says: Say. “Our journey is both personal and collective.”
In 2019, a black teacher at the school told supportive students to boycott the campus after the incident involving a white Jewish girl sparked complaints of a racist environment.
