HOUSTON: The word "TRUMP" accompanied a swastika symbol drawn with a dark coloured chalk at the statue of the founder of a university here in the US state of Texas, in the third act of racist vandalism on the campus this month. The Nazi symbol was drawn on the base of the founder William Marsh Rice's 2,000-pound statue in the heart of the Academic Quad lawn at Rice University, the Houston Chronicle reported.
It accompanied the word "TRUMP", referring to the new US President Donald Trump. The incident was the third act of racist vandalism on the campus this month. Rice was not Jewish although the prestigious university does have a large Jewish student population. "I have had it with this behaviour," undergraduate dean John Hutchinson said in a statement released by the university that was also posted on Facebook.
"The use of the swastika clearly reveals that whoever did this is either ignorant of the history of true evil associated with this emblem of hate or is genuinely motivated by blind hatred." If a student is discovered to have drawn the graffiti, he or she faces expulsion from the university, Hutchinson reportedly said. Meanwhile, similar signs were found in Chicago and New York too.
Chicago Police released a surveillance video yesterday that shows a man smashing the front window of a synagogue and placing swastikas on the front door. In the video, the suspect pulls up to the synagogue curb in a dark-coloured SUV just after midnight, places the stickers on the front door and then breaks the glass with a metal object. He then gets back in the car and flees the scene.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime. And in New York City, passengers encountered swastikas and Nazi slogans scrawled on a subway train car last night. The sign also caught the attention of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, who tweeted about it. "We will not let hate win," Clinton said.