Police said a hate crime committed at a Liberty Station art gallery shortly after Thanksgiving likely won’t be solved unless a witness with information leading to the culprit(s) steps forward.
“This crime is one that doesn’t have any witnesses or any video surveillance,” said Lt. Scott Wahl, public information officier for San Diego Police Department. “Barring someone coming forward – we’re not going to solve this one.”
“In plain daylight, a hate crime took place at the New Americans Museum when signage was defaced with anti immigrant-biased statements,” said New Americans Museum’s executive director Linda Sotelo. “A police report was filed. SDPD is classifying it as a hate crime. The FBI was notified.”
Sometime on Saturday morning, Nov. 26, two signs in the New Americans Museum (NAM) at 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 102 in Liberty Station, were found defaced with the messages “Too much Immigration! Go back to your country. This one is ours!,” scrawled on one, and “over population & crowding by immigration” on the other.
The museum is part of Liberty Station’s Arts District and was created as a catalyst to celebrate America’s past and promise. The facility provides inspiring and compelling educational and cultural programs and activities exploring our nation and region’s diverse immigrant experiences.
“We are deeply troubled and saddened by this incident, and more vigilant than ever as our core museum’s mission to uplift and celebrate our immigrant contributions and heritage has been directly assaulted with this anti-immigrant defacement,” said Sotelo.
Noting the United States was built by immigrants, generations of them, the museum director said, “It is extremely distressing to see this kind of hatred directed at immigrants. “What happened only strengthens our determination, even more, to tell the story of people who come here from around the world seeking a better life,” Sotelo said. Multigenerational immigrant contributions are a vital part of what makes our country great.”
In the wake of the defacement, Sotelo said “museum staff and volunteer trainings will be implemented and we plan to convene a meeting in the coming weeks at NAM to come together as a community to discuss ways to address and support each other as these types of hate crime incidents, big and small, emerge at local levels given our nation’s charged political climate and the intolerance it has awoken.”
Sotelo pointed out Congress has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”
SDPD’s Wahl noted a hate crime is considered “an enhancement to the crime,” explaining, “If I punch somebody in the face, that’s battery. But if I punch somebody in the face because of their race or their religion … It’s a crime motivated by hate, which is an enhancement.”
Fortunately, in the museum’s case, the defacement done was not ineradicable.
“I believe it was done with dry magic marker and they (museum) were able to wipe it right off, so there was no permanent damage,” Wahl said, adding it was a crime nonetheless being a “defacement of advertising.”
If the perpetrators are ever caught, Wahl said it would likely be a civil case involving vandalism coupled with a hate crime.
“We have to emphasize that we need public support on these types of things (crimes) if they’re to be solved,” Wahl said. “It’s very frustrating to see this in the community. There are a lot of unknowns.
“You need to know who – and what’s – behind it to actually solidify a hate crime,” Wahl said. “We’re working with the museum to talk about some different strategies to prevent that (defacement) in the future.”
Anyone with information about the signage defacement at the New Americans Museum is urged to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 888-580-8477 or SDPD Western Division at 858-692-4800.