Jewish residents in West Seattle's Sunrise Heights neighborhood on Monday morning found anti-Semitic slurs sprayed along their alley. Police are investigating.
On Monday morning,residents of West Seattle’s Sunrise Heights neighborhood woke up to find a wooden alley fence behind a home spray-painted with the word, “JEW.”
An anti-Semitic slur was spray-painted on nearby pavement.
Seattle police say they have taken a report, but about all they have are the bad scribblings.
The West Seattle Blog posted photos of the vandalism at the request of residents. A woman in her 60s lives in the home that was hit by vandals, the blog says.
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“The residents (of the home) say they are Jewish, but they haven’t had problems or threats and have no idea who would do this or why,” the blog reported.
The Pacific Northwest Anti-Defamation League said about the vandalism, “No person, no matter their religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or background, should ever wake up to see their home desecrated.”
State law defines malicious harassment — a felony commonly referred to as a hate crime — as intentionally injuring, damaging property or threatening someone because of his or her perception of the victim’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or mental, physical or sensory handicap.
The number of hate crimes has skyrocketed across the country since the 2016 presidential election, The Seattle Times reported earlier this month. In Seattle, the number of reported hate crimes almost doubled, from 118 incidents in 2016 to 234 in 2017.
The largest number of hate crimes reported involved crimes directed at someone’s race and/or ethnicity, which represented 120 of the total cases. Forty-five cases involved crimes motivated by someone’s religion