community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
Waiting on the consequencesof racist graffiti
by Emma Rehm
Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 1:50 PM
An update on an incident in PIttsburgh earlier in the month.
Since the report of Nazi graffiti appearing on the Jewish University Center (JUC) in Oakland, the local activist community has talking about how to react. The general sentiment from the outset was accusatory, and most people felt like they were sure who was responsible. In fact, as it turns out, so do the police.
Pittsburgh Police Lieutenant Scott Suber says that there have been no other incidents related to the initial graffiti, a statement echoed by campus police at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. City police do know who is responsible for the vandalism, but are waiting to hear JUC board members' opinions on further action.
The detective on the case, Ronald Pasquarelli, explained that punishment will also depend in part on what the responsible individual intended at the time of the vandalism. A charge of graffiti is only a summary offense, "the lowest form of crime in the state of Pennsylvania," and is punishable only by a fine. Graffiti on a church, synagogue, school, or place of worship is considered institutional vandalism" which is how it was categorized in the incident report sent out by CMU police.
Pasquarelli says that he contacted the JUC on May 14, but would need to talk to them again. However, he said "In the next few days, some movement will be taken." In the meantime, there have been some community discussions and the activist kids are planning to distribute leaflets about hate crimes and tolerance.
![[masthead]](/images/masthead_140.png)