Above: A new chalk message was discovered early Sunday morning on the sidewalk of Boston Road between Falconi Oil/Shell Gas and the businesses at the corner of Main Street. (Image from Google Maps)
[Editor’s Note: I’m torn about sharing this news, since the perpetrator is clearly enjoying the limelight. But since some have doubted the sincerity of the hate behind the “hate crime”, it makes sense to share that the writer appears to be doubling down on the message. If future graffiti turns up, I may choose to ignore it.]
Another scrawled message was discovered on a Route 30 sidewalk early Sunday morning. According to Chief Kenneth Paulhus, the message was written on the stretch of Boston Road between Lamy Insurance at the corner of Main Street and Falconi Oil/Shell Gas.
According to the Southborough Wicked Local article:
Police Chief Ken Paulhus said a passerby reported seeing the racial and sexual slurs written in chalk around 8 a.m. Sunday. He said the disparaging words were found about a quarter mile from St. Anne’s.
“It appears to be the same person,” he said. . .
Paulhus said the graffiti found Sunday morning included similar sentiments and a new message: “It’s not a hate crime. It’s free speech.” . . .
Paulhus said police have no leads and are asking the public to report any suspicious activity. He said the department will step up its efforts to find the culprit.
St. Anne’s church had already announced that they plan a public vigil against the hate message for 8:00 pm tonight in the church driveway. The community is invited.
Updated (8/11/15 9:30 am): Received more specifics on location of graffiti.
Hate to be a stickler but how do we know this is actually “hate ” speech ?
Using slurs to define groups of people that don’t matter. If it’s not hate, tell me what that is.
I am not defending the “hate speech” but speech is not a crime. Defacing property might be a crime but unpleasant and offending words are not.
“One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting.”
Salman Rushdie
As I said before, the police should give equal consideration to the possibility this was a hoax meant to stir-up fears and the belief that hate in one form or another permeates American society.
The unfortunate fact is when such hoaxes are discovered the acts are rarely if ever described as motivated by “hate”, and instead often labeled as misguided attempts at “consciousness raising”.
In fact, such acts are typically motivated by hate — hate and contempt for the society in which we live and meant to spread fear and distrust in the service of an agenda.