SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco officials gathered at the Merced Heights Playground to condemn hate speech after a community leader discovered racial slurs on a building belonging to an enrichment program at the site.
Renard Monroe, director of Youth 1st, was shocked Friday morning to see what he interpreted as a noose hanging on the door of the program building and the N-word spray-painted in black ink on the walls next to the playground.
“Emotions are all over the place right now,” Monroe told CBS Bay Area.
Youth 1st is an enrichment program in a predominantly black neighborhood, designed to give children a space to learn and play after school. The building is surrounded by a playground and tennis courts that border the side of the building. The rest of the area is fenced off with a six-foot high fence.
Monroe said seeing racial slurs so close to children’s playgrounds was a metaphorical blow to the work he has done and a direct contradiction to the positive message he preaches.
Officials held a press conference Friday afternoon to encourage community members to remain strong in the face of adversity and to raise awareness of the crime that was committed. Notable officials in attendance included Supervisor Asha Safai and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. Both condemned the act and stressed their intention to find the perpetrator.
“We need to come together and march through the streets against something like this,” the prosecutor said.
The municipality has not yet announced who is behind the graffiti, but they have called on anyone who has cameras at their home to view the images for suspicious activity.
Maika Pinkston, a local community leader, was not pleased with the press conference. In a brief interview with CBS Bay Area, she said that San Francisco’s black community is often forced to look the other way when racist attacks surface.
“As a black community, we are expected to accept disrespectful behavior and just move on with our lives.”
Renard Monroe said the playground would remain open. Children were back in the park less than an hour after Friday’s news conference.
