Employees at the Columbus Inn in Wilmington’s Wawaset neighborhood arrived Saturday morning to find a backward swastika spray-painted over the sign in the restaurant’s driveway.
Drivers on Route 52 slowed to gawk at the hate symbol before an employee and a Wilmington police officer taped a garbage bag over it at around 10 a.m. The graffiti was believed to be painted sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on Friday.
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Around the corner on Union Street, another swastika and a derogatory message toward police were graffitied in the same red paint over a billboard advertising Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union.
The Wilmington Police Department is investigating both incidents.
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According to the Anti-Defamation League, when the swastika’s “arms” are backward, it’s often the sign of a young person attempting to do “shock” graffiti, rather than a white supremacist.
Still, hate crimes — anti-Semitic or otherwise — are on the rise in Delaware. The Department of Justice reported a 40% increase in incidents between 2020 and 2021.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
