The New Rochelle Branch of the NAACP has expressed “outrage” over the discovery of racist graffiti at Davis Elementary School on two occasions in April.  According to Aisha Cook, President of the local NAACP chapter, the “N-word” was written on the sidewalk outside Davis, and a week later, the same word was found on a bathroom wall inside the school.

In a public letter distributed on April 30, Schools Superintendent Dr. Corey Reynolds confirmed the second incident, saying, “The graffiti contained a portion of a hate word used throughout history to demean, humiliate, and degrade the Black and African American community. Such an act is unequivocally unacceptable within our schools and our community.”

The racist graffiti at Davis is not an isolated incident in New Rochelle.  Last October, a Black effigy was found hanging from a noose outside a home on Pelham Road across the street from Trinity School.  In January 2024, antisemitic graffiti was painted on two Jewish-owned stores in the Golden Horseshoe shopping center in the north end of New Rochelle.  While the effigy incident attracted little public notice or official comment, the Golden Horseshoe incident prompted an immediate protest involving hundreds of people, including many elected officials.

In a letter to Superintendent Reynolds, Cook said, “These racially charged incidents must be met with swift and punitive consequences for the person or persons involved.  A police investigation of these incidents as hate crimes must be conducted…in a swift, clear, and transparent manner, regardless of the age of the perpetrator.”  Cook cited reports that there were witness accounts of the incidents that “should expedite the arrest of those involved.”

“Racial hatred is learned,” Cook wrote  “We are not born with it.  In addition to consequences for the students or other persons engaging in this hateful behavior, mandated continuous anti bias training is imperative for the school staff on the history of racial injustices in this country and its identification, and must be included in the school curriculum at age-appropriate levels of instruction.”

In his letter on the bathroom incident, Reynolds said, “Such an act is unequivocally unacceptable within our schools and our community.”

“The graffiti was immediately removed,” Reynolds continued, “and we are working with school leadership to fully investigate the incident.”

Racial hatred continues to plague New Rochelle, which is no surprise sincit is woven into the fabric of America.  Discrimination and attacks against Black people remain a low priority, and there is little outrage or response from the city when these insults and attacks occur.  We need to learn from history–if there is no response, then there is no accountability or healing. And if racism is taught as an acceptable gesture, then parents should be accountable for their children’s acts of racial hatred.