Hate Crimes On The Rise In Montgomery County, Alarming Leaders

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Within the past couple of weeks, Montgomery County officials have received reports of hate crimes, including swastikas carved at a MARC train station in Garrett Park, antisemitic flyers posted at Ride-On Station and KKK imagery appearing on internet app searches for Damascus High School.

“Our residents are rightfully concerned and we want to assure them that we are mobilized, vigilant and are investigating each of these incidents. I am appreciative of the MCPD leadership and collaboration with the community on these incidents and ensuring our community members feel safe. Whoever is responsible for these incidents should know that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said.

The Jewish Community Relations of Greater Washington, along with the Anti-Defamation League, community partners and the county, including the Montgomery County Police Department, will be hosting an upcoming webinar to discuss the increase of these incidents across the county. Details will be announced at a later date.

Meredith R. Weisel, regional director of ADL Washington, D.C., said "we're extremely disturbed" to see the increase in white supremacist, antisemitic and racist incidents of fliers and vandalism in Montgomery County.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing a trend across the country of this type of activity, so we urge the community to report to law enforcement any of these types of hateful incidents," Weisel said.

On June 2, antisemitic flyers referencing the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and featuring white supremacist tags were posted on a bus stop in the heart of the Kemp Mill Orthodox Jewish Community at the corner of Arcola Avenue and Lamberton Streets in Kemp Mill.

Less than a week after a swastika and anti-Semitic messages were posted on a bus stop near an Orthodox synagogue in Silver Spring, similar vandalism was discovered last Tuesday at a train station in nearby Garrett Park.

Images tweeted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington showed swastikas, “white power” and a derogatory word spray-painted with white paint on the ground and multiple surfaces in the small, historic, unattended train station at the Garrett Park stop of the Maryland Regional Commuter Rail (MARC) right outside of Washington, D.C.

In May, The Washington Post reported that online search result images for Damascus High School has been replaced with photos of the Ku Klux Klan. School leaders denounced hate speech of any kind. Social media messages showing the results of a search on Apple's Maps app showed KKK members standing underneath burning crosses and an image of a Confederate flag. Principal Kevin D. Yates wrote in a letter that he alerted MCPS Security and our Technology Specialists and was advised to go to the app and report the images as hate symbols and request that they be removed.

“Recently, Montgomery County neighborhoods have witnessed anti-Semitic/racist-based vandalism and white supremacist flyers distributed in their communities. While these hate-filled perpetrators are trying to drive us apart, they have failed. These actions have only succeeded in strengthening the resolve of our community leaders to enhance our bonds of friendship and mutual care and support. In Montgomery County, we view our beautiful mosaic of diversity as strength. We thank the County Executive and the Montgomery County Police Department for their leadership, quick action and reassurance that hate has no place in our community," Ron Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said.