Hartford Mayor: BLM Graffiti A 'Vile Act Of Hate'

HARTFORD, CT — With the city planning Juneteenth celebrations this weekend, Hartford is still reeling from what happened last weekend.

The large, Black Lives Matter mural on Trinity Street was defaced, according to city officials, with a swastika and a white supremacist message.

The mural was painted in the summer of 2020 after the horror of George Floyd's murder at the hands of a white policeman in Minneapolis, Minn.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election this year, said the city is strong and will not allow this act of racial hatred to divide it.

"Whoever scrawled this swastika and message of white supremacy is a miserable, small, hate-filled person who wants us divided and afraid," Bronin said in a statement. "But our Hartford community is united, diverse, loving and strong."

"We're angry about this vile act of hate, but we're not weakened by it. I went out (Sunday) morning to thank the artists who have joined together to renew this mural as a beautiful expression of a community that stands together in love and mutual respect.

"Our police are working to find the person responsible for this hate crime, and I want that person to know that their hatefulness just made us stronger."

West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor also weighed in on the incident, with the Town of West Hartford releasing her statement Wednesday.

"I am heartbroken and troubled by the hateful and hurtful racist vandalism, including a swastika and other racist elements, done to Hartford’s BLM mural," wrote Cantor via social media. "West Hartford stands in solidarity against hatred of any kind."

For more information, click on this link.