Police in Washington, DC, are investigating the vandalism of a mural depicting Jewish senator Bernie Sanders as a possible hate crime.
The mural of Mr Sanders, located in the Navy Yard area of Washington, DC, was defaced with a cartoon image of internet meme, “Pepe the Frog”, at some point between 15 December and 14 January, according to DC police.
The authorities were called to investigate the vandalism on Saturday by one of the artists of the mural, who felt “that the defacement may be motivated by hate or bias of political or religious affiliation”, according to a report in Fox 5.
The “Pepe the Frog” cartoon became popular in 2006 and grew into an internet meme in the years that followed. However, since 2010, it has been adopted by people in alt-right and white supremacist groups, who share it in anti-Semitic and other bigoted contexts.
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) vice president and Washington ADL office head, Doron Ezickson, told Fox 5 on Monday that “obviously Pepe was created in a very innocent way,” but was then appropriated by bigoted groups.
He added that it was then “spread over the internet and different chat rooms and 8chan and Reddit and some of the places where ‘Alt-Right’ and white supremacists folks find each other and share ideas and share strategies.”
Over the weekend, the artists fixed the mural, while adding a new phrase: “Hate has no home here.”
Mr Ezickson told Fox 5 that the vandalism was the first time he had seen the “Pepe the frog” image in the Washington Metropolitan area, but said it is important to report it if spotted.
“Often times, people look to hate elsewhere and are not aware of it and are not aware of the impact of our own backyard,” he said.
Mr Ezickson added: “The insidious part of hate is it not only targets – targets an individual perhaps or a community, but it is received by an entire community as somehow a message that they don’t have equal rights in our society, that they need to be fearful.”
An investigation into the vandalism as a possible hate crime is ongoing.
