Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights Defaced With Swastikas, Pro-Trump Graffiti

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — A park in Brooklyn was the latest to be vandalized with hateful graffiti. On Friday, two Swastikas and the words, "Go Trump" were drawn on playground equipment at Brooklyn Heights' Adam Yauch Park, named after the founding member of the Beastie Boys.

City council member Brad Lander tweeted a picture of the graffiti and later said NYC parks staff was on site immediately as was the NYPD hate crimes task force.

State Sen. Daniel Squadron also tweeted a picture of the graffiti. "Shocking we'd see this in 2016 in a Brooklyn park," he wrote.

Squadron's office received a call about the graffiti on Friday. City officials removed the message and are currently investigating.

As a response to the hateful graffiti, elected officials and community and faith leaders are hosting a, "Stand up against hate in Brooklyn, NYC and our country," event at Adam Yauch Park on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Yauch, whom the park is named after, was a Brooklyn native and practicing Buddhist. He was known as a human rights activist who spoke out against anti-Muslim sentiments. When he died, the artist Cihan Kaan memorialized him in an AlJazeera article titled, "Adam Yauch was a Muslim Hero."

The hateful graffiti has since been painted over and the playground equipment is now apparently covered with hearts and flowers.

The graffiti found at the park is the latest in a string of hateful acts that have made their way into New York City and much of the country since the presidential election. The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented more than 700 such acts and Patch has reported on just under 50 acts motivated by hate and racism as of Nov. 18.

Earlier this week, the district attorneys of all five boroughs issued a joint statement denouncing the alleged hate crimes.

Image via Google Street View