Community rallies around family whose home was attacked with racist graffiti
Community rallies around family whose home was attacked with racist graffiti
A community has rallied around a family whose Washington state home was attacked with racist graffiti while they were out of town camping.
The vandalism, which included the spray-painted words ‘n****r’ and ‘KKK’, was scrawled across the sides of the Phillips family’s Tenino home and truck.
The incident occurred between Thursday night and Friday morning, and police called the family while on vacation to notify them of the apparent hate crime.
‘I was told it was graffiti and nobody wanted to say what it really was,’ Marvin Phillips told KCPQ.
‘They finally said, “Marvin, it was the n-word and KKK, stuff like that.”‘
But it did not take long for the community to come together and clean up the racist graffiti.
Tenino Police Officer Susie Wilson, who had called Phillips to inform him of the incident, said she was angry and embarrassed by the vandalism.
‘I was sad, I was very frustrated,’ she told KCPQ.
Heidi Russell, who runs the football team that Phillips’ son is on in the Tenino Beavers Youth Football & Cheer, knew she had to do something about it and organized a clean-up
Dozens of volunteers – including Mayor Wayne Fournier, Phillips’ son’s teammates and kind strangers – worked for four hours to clean up the home and truck before the Phillips returned
‘This is my town, my community, this is where I patrol.’
Heidi Russell, who runs the football team that Phillips’ son is on with her husband in the Tenino Beavers Youth Football & Cheer, knew she had to do something about it.
So dozens of volunteers – including Mayor Wayne Fournier, Phillips’ son’s teammates and kind strangers – worked for four hours to clean up the home and truck before the Phillips returned home on Saturday afternoon.
‘We had to make sure that truck did not look like that because that’s the truck that takes his son to practice three nights a week,’ Russell told KCPQ.
‘I would say love conquered this hate and we need a little bit more in this world,’ she added.
Police are now investigating the incident and are searching for whoever is responsible for leaving the racist graffiti.
Phillips said he is grateful his children did not have to see the vandalism.
‘I’m shocked. I really am. I’m grateful,’ he told KOMO News.
He also told KCPQ that his faith in the community has been restored.
‘I don’t think what happened to me exemplified what’s going on in Tenino, I think the outcome of it shows what’s happening in Tenino.’
