APD Investigating Anti-White Graffiti in Westside Atlanta
(APN) ATLANTA — The Atlanta Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit is investigating anti-White graffiti located at the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive NW and Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. NW, in Atlanta’s Westside neighborhood, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.
Atlanta’s Westside has been historically Black for several decades, but more White people have been moving back into the area, in part because of new development and public investment in the area.
For approximately the last two weeks, a silver utility box has displayed the following three messages, each facing motorists and pedestrians from a different angle:
“GET YOUR WHITE ASS OUT OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD;”
“CRACKERS NOT ALLOWED;” and
“GO BACK TO THE WHITE SIDE OF TOWN.” (See photographs)
APN observed a previous iteration of graffiti at the same intersection a few weeks ago that stated, “F*CK WHITE PEOPLE AND F*GGOTS.”
The graffiti has stood at a major intersection, with thousands of cars passing by daily, and to date, the graffiti is still there.
APN’s News Editor, the present writer, who is White, posted the photographs to Facebook on August 22, 2019.
https://www.facebook.com/jadefiredance/posts/10157637678893385
While many were outraged at the anti-White hate speech in the images, others aligned themselves with the graffiti’s messages.
“The racial tension on the Westside is real. Now the gentrifiers are upset,” Corwin Cp Monson wrote, referencing the August 22 post.
“Stay woke. This is why we need real leadership to stand up to the gay confederacy. MAKE ATLANTA STRAIGHT AGAIN!!” Monson wrote.
“The Gay Confederates are the white people who are gentrifying the neighborhood and using the lgbtq community as it’s [sic] weapon of mass destruction of the black community. The victoryfund.org is funding this attack along with the Log Cabin Republicans of Buckhead,” Monson wrote.
Some said the concerns and emotions about gentrification on Atlanta’s Westside are real and justified, even if hate speech targeting an entire class of people on the basis of race or sexual orientation is misplaced at best.
Yet another commentator said there is no such thing as “reverse racism” and that, therefore, for a White person to be offended is for them to lack a “baseline understanding” of their “role in White Supremacy.”
Mesha Mainor, a former candidate for Atlanta City Council District 3, who is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination for House District 56 currently held by State Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta), was outraged at the graffiti when she saw the post.
On Thursday, August 29, Mainor sent an email regarding the graffiti to the Atlanta Police Department, and to Councilman Antonio Brown (District 3), who represents the area.
APD responded on August 30: “Our Homeland Security Unit has received this email and has assigned this to an investigator. Contact should be made soon.”
On Saturday, August 31, Mainor said she had been contacted by an officer, who said it had been assigned to a Hate Crimes Unit.
Mainor said she wants to find out who spray-painted the hate speech, and that she believes it may have been done by someone who she says has been stalking her.
“There is an ongoing investigation against someone that has been stalking me, and the person has also stated that he believed me to be gay, although not true,” Mainor said.
“And since this time, he has begun a campaign directed to hate speech about gay people, which I would be included in since he thinks I’m gay. When it was brought to my attention that he was starting a Youtube channel and specifically talking about the Intersection of MLK and Lowery, which he refers to as Ashby [its former name],” Mainor said.
“I asked APD to check the footage to see if this person is stalking me,” Mainor said.
“I don’t believe in the message. I live in Hunter Hills. As we gentrify, we have a beautiful neighborhood of diverse people,” she said.
APN’s Editor messaged Councilman Brown about the graffiti as well.
“I will get this fixed,” he said. “This needs to be addressed.”
(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2019)
Bey you $50 bucks the person that wrote that doesn’t even live in the neighborhood.
Where is the outrage when black people /men are murdered almost daily by cops? They don’t say it, they just murder. White Supremacists march and are protected, therefore Black people have freedom of speech. But do your investigating and let’s see for sure who this person is. Could be someone thinks they will get some pointers to help them get elected. I will keep an open mind.