Racist graffiti rattles Sonoma library

Questions remain about the incident, first reported in November.|

On the morning of Nov. 24, library manager Sabine Salek got to work only to discover arguably the most offensive word in the English language had been written next to the front door of the Sonoma Valley Regional Library: the n-word. Three months later, Black activists are wondering why it wasn’t classified as a hate crime.

“I think that's preposterous. That's outrageous,” said D’mitra Smith, former chair of the Commission on Human Rights in Sonoma County. “Whenever there is some kind of hate crime, we need a strong statement from the mayor and the city council.”

Sonoma Police Sgt. Scott McKinnon explained there was an insufficient amount of evidence about the crime -- no witnesses, no suspect information and no knowledge of motive -- so officers did not record the incident as a hate crime, but recorded it in event reports, in case any similar incidents occurred in the future.

The incident is part of a string of racially motivated events targeting Sonoma County libraries, leading the county system to issue a statement recommitting themselves to uplifting the Black community.

“We were shocked,” Salek said, who identifies as mixed race. “It's not that there's never been graffiti in the library before, but that seemed to rise to the level of a hate crime. And so that's why we called the police that day.”

Sonoma Police received a call for the vulgar vandalism at 9:51 a.m. Deputies found a misspelled n-word written in a “black substance” on the wall, according to the police report.

In officers’ interviews, there was no information available about any potential suspects. Police also interviewed a transient in the area who allegedly witnessed two or three men near the library. But no additional leads were found.

Despite initial information which described a “racial slur spray painted on the building,” the graffiti was able to be wiped away easily, according to the event report. Because the damage to the library was superficial, the incident was not recorded as a vandalism, according to Sonoma Police Sgt. Mike Baraz.

But leaders in Sonoma’s Black community have said the response to the incident has lacked accountability, both by the police and by the Sonoma County Library system. Smith criticized police for not recording the incident as a hate crime.

She added the Sonoma County Library missed an opportunity to involve a Black community organization in their statement condemning the string of anti-Black incidents at their branches.

“Clearly, they're saying, ‘No, we're going to stand strong and we're not going to tolerate this,’” Smith said. “But again, we want to be aware as allies not to speak for a community, to make sure that there’s always participation and there’s always leadership from the community that we want to support.”

Sonoma County Library issued a formal statement Feb. 7 after it became clear that these incidents were different from the small acts of vandalism which frequent libraries; they were part of a trend in racially targeted attacks. The libraries’ statement recommitted itself to anti-racist policies that support and uplift the Black community, in addition to displaying Black Lives Matter flags inside of all library branches.

“In light of recent events — including the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner at our Sebastopol branch, a previous theft of a similar banner, and the spray-painting of the hate and abhorrent n-word near the entrance to our Sonoma Valley branch — the Sonoma County library wants to reiterate its values: we condemn these crimes; we condemn any attempt to silence or intimidate free expression; we will not tolerate racist or hateful behavior at any our our facilities ...” the Feb. 7 statement said.

Libraries are subjected to small acts of vandalism frequently, said Ray Holley, the communications manager for Sonoma County Library, but when it became clear there was a trend of racially motivated crimes demanded a response.

Holley said the racist act was an attempt to intimidate the Black community of Sonoma County, which goes against the core principles of the library: “All are welcome.”

But Sonoma County has not always been a place that welcomes Black people, Smith said. There is a history of violence and discrimination against their community, perpetuated through formal and informal means. “Sundown towns” were municipalities that used discriminatory housing policies like red-lining to keep out Black people or, if that didn’t work, pressured Black residents through intimidation.

“African Americans who managed to purchase property in Sonoma County had to contend with the real possibility of racially motivated violence and vandalism,” a UD Berkeley Hass Institute report on discrimination in Sonoma County said. “In the 1950s, the Santa Rosa weekend home of San Franciscan NAACP leader Jack Beavers was burned. Black and white neighbors alike agreed that the fire was likely a deliberate act ‘done to the family because of discrimination.’”

The library, in Smith’s view, “is the most democratic and amazing thing about America” as a place that provides free access to knowledge and art.

Smith recalled her own time growing up in libraries. When she didn’t have much money, she would listen to the free records at the library where she was first exposed to punk and ska music.

Holley said that adding Black Lives Matter banners to Sonoma County libraries is not a matter of making a political statement, but clearly stating that “Black lives matter“ is a statement of fact that is not up for debate. And the library, he said, is a welcoming place for all.

“When you make a racist or hateful statement in public, or when you vandalize someone else’s statement of inclusivity — that’s an act of intimidation,” Holley said. “The people who committed these acts are trying to intimidate other people and infringe on their freedom of speech; to infringe on their rights to be inclusive and be an ally.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.

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