Racism In America: Anti-Semitic Vandalism Sees Swastikas Engraved On Church Doors In New York

An Upper West Side Unitarian church near Central Park has been vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. Swastika symbols along with the words "race office" were engraved on two wooden doors at the Fourth Universalist Society on Central Park West between 75th and 76th Streets, church officials said Wednesday.

The parishioners at the Fourth Universalist Society found the swastikas Tuesday morning when they opened for services, and they said that the vandals probably made them late Monday night when the church was closed, or early Tuesday. The church is now working to fix the doors, CBS Local reported.

The words "race office" refer to the official racial policy followed by the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler that considered Aryans to be a superior race.

Fourth Universalist Society is non-creedal, which means that they welcome practitioners from any faith. They are also one of the houses of worship that have pledged to provide shelter to refugees and undocumented immigrants and offered them food and lodging. Senior Minister Rev. Schuyler Vogel said this might be one of the reasons that they were attacked.

"We’re processing it. It’s not something that’s been easy for the congregation. We have a long history of social justice, in providing sanctuary and supporting groups like Black Lives Matter. To be a voice to those who are marginalized and to stand with them, that sometimes opens us up to attacks," Vogel told New York Daily News.

This is only the latest in a series of anti-semitic incidents of vandalism reported over the past few weeks, where swastikas have been found engraved on train seats, bathrooms, and highways across the city. Early last month, for instance, commuters on a subway train in Manhattan found that every advertisement on every window of their train had been vandalized with the Nazi Swastika. The incident soon went viral on social media after the passengers got together to erase the hateful symbols using their sanitizers. Even Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter, tweeted about it.

Prior to that, in January, several Jewish Community Centers — in New York and across the country — were threatened with bomb strikes.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the church vandalism and the increase in hate crimes across the U.S. "troubling and unsettling."

"I want everyone who's concerned to know that the NYPD is highly focused, as it always is, on protecting all communities. We're trying to address it in our city with a very aggressive ability to stop hate crimes and prosecute hate crimes and bias crimes," the mayor told NY Daily News.

"We need our federal government and all governments around the country to do that too to make a very clear point that we will not accept anti-Semitism in this country," he added.

There have been incidents where President Donald Trump's name has been found scribbled alongside the swastikas. Police in Long Island, Suffolk County announced Wednesday that its Hate Crimes Unit was trying to locate the vandal who wrote "Trump Lies" with the swastika that replaced the "M" in Trump. At a men's bathroom in Penn station, officials found a graffiti that said "Trump KKK" with a swastika.

Addressing the issue during his first speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Trump commented on the Jewish community center threats and the vandalism that have been taking place at Jewish cemeteries.

"While we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united condemning hate and evil in all of its ugly forms," Trump said, adding that he wanted to deliver a "message of unity and strength," about a "new chapter in American greatness."

"Our allies will find that America is once again ready to lead," he said. "All the nations of the world — friend or foe — will find that America is strong, America is proud, and America is free."