Racist, Anti-Semitic Graffiti Found on Bronx River Bike Path in White Plains

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino, speaking on the Bronx River bike path under a Metro-North bridge in White Plains Monday, said hateful graffiti is not something he or anyone in the county will tolerate.

Anti-Semitic and anti-black graffiti were found Sunday afternoon under the bridge on the bike path.

Astorino said graffiti is something that happens in the county, but in this instance, it was different.

“It was hateful. It was vile,” he said. “We will not tolerate it.”

The county executive said he didn’t care if the perpetrator was a kid or an adult.

“This is something that will be prosecuted,” Astorino said. “The police department is already investigating this as a hate crime.”

There have been other instances of racist graffiti in the region, including at SUNY New Paltz, Pomona and in Danbury, Connecticut.

Rep. Nita Lowey, a Democrat from Harrison, whose congressional district includes White Plains, in a statement Monday decried the appointment of Stephen K. Bannon, a supporter of the alt-right, as President-elect Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist and senior counselor. She said she has seen reports of rising vandalism and intimidation.

“Not only is such behavior unacceptable, it must be universally denounced and stopped,” she said.

Astornio said the president-elect was forceful in a “60 Minutes” interview about telling people to stop the violence or intimidation.

He called on President Barrack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a Chappaqua resident, to speak to their supporters as well to calm them down.

“I think both sides have a lot to say and should say about the healing process,” Astorino said.

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