On Monday morning, neighbors of Grace United Church of Christ in Holly Hills woke up to find someone had spray painted “White Lives Matter” in large letters across the church's red brick wall.
The slogan, which came to reactionary prominence in the wake of the 2014 Black Lives Matter movement, is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist phrase.
On the church in Holly Hills, the words had been tagged just below progressive signs reading, "Reject Racism" and "Jesus did not reject people. Neither do we."
"This is a fluke," said Scott Raymond, who has lived across the street from the church for more than 20 years in a home that his wife grew up in. "It's a quiet area."
Another neighbor said that the neighborhood was "multicultural, welcoming and diverse." He added that his doorbell camera is motion-activated and turned on around 4 a.m. Monday, but it didn't capture any of the vandals.
A home whose lot is adjacent to the church has a camera facing its parking lot, but neither Raymond nor the other neighbor knew if police had sought that video evidence.
Raymond said that he first noticed the graffiti yesterday morning when he came outside to have his coffee. He called the church and asked if he could use a power washer to remove the spray paint. They said yes — by all means.
Yesterday Raymond had managed to dull the graffiti's presence on the walls and he was getting ready to get back at it later this morning.
"I'm doing what I can to get rid of it," he says. "Today's another day to tackle it."
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