Swampscott Select Board Condemns Sidewalk Swastika As Town Plans Rally

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — While allowing that a proclamation recognizing and condemning antisemitism does not "solve anything" in the wake of a swastika spray-painted on a Swampscott sidewalk on Friday, Select Board Chair Neal Duffy added that it was an important thing to do as the town seeks to acknowledge deeply hurtful incidents that continue to take place on the North Shore and pledges to stand together against them.

The Select Board on Wednesday held an hourlong discussion on the swastika vandalism found on Reddington Street Friday afternoon and voted on a proclamation of understanding of a "definition" of antisemitism as well as declaring January as Holocaust Remembrance Month and the Jan. 27 anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Holocaust Remembrance Day in the town.

"It is both a sad and profound coincidence that we were planning on doing this anyway," said Duffy of the proclamations he said were set to be adopted prior to Friday's incident. "But, in some ways, it is a good, strong reminder of the need for us to do this in the first place.

"These incidents are so frequent and commonplace that I think we become numb to them, and the impact that they have, and the harm and the hurt that they cause. But we certainly can't ignore them. It's important for us to recognize that antisemitism, racism, discrimination, hatred, and hate speech do happen in our community and that we have to be vocal in our opposition to it, and vigilant in our continued pursuit to make this town a community of peaceful understanding, empathy, appreciation, and coexistence."

Duffy noted other acts of antisemitic vandalism and graffiti found within the past year in Danvers, Marblehead and Peabody, and that so many of them across the country — including in Danvers and Marblehead — have occurred in middle and high schools, presumably done by children.

"This is learned behavior," Select Board member David Grishman said.

Select Board member Katie Phelan got emotional as she described the process of having to tell her 6-year-old son what a swastika is — and what it is a symbol of — in making him aware of what happened in Swampscott and the pain that it causes people.

The proclamation included the acceptance that "recent acts of hate in Swampscott serve as an important reminder of our obligation to condemn and confront rising antisemitism in all of its forms, including the denial or trivialization of the Holocaust."

A "No Place For Hate" rally aimed at bringing the town together in opposition to the antisemitic vandalism is planned for Thursday at the gazebo at Linscott Park at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Burrill Street at 5:30 p.m.

Swampscott police said the white swastika, as well as a white line spray-painted on a nearby vehicle, was believed to have been placed Friday between 2 and 6 p.m. and have asked area homeowners to check any home security footage for images that could lead to identifying the person or persons responsible.

Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to contact the Swampscott Police Department at 781-595-1111.

"I don't think anyone on this board, or anyone in this town, thinks a proclamation solves anything," Duffy allowed. "But I think it's important to do. I don't think these things are trivial or we wouldn't do them.

"But I think we need to continue to work."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)