A Jewish community center in Blacksburg, Virginia that is used by many Jewish students at Virginia Tech, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.
According to a photo posted online by the StopAntisemitism organization, the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center’s sign was vandalized with antisemitic symbols.
“We are nauseated to see a Jewish Community Center (JCC) sign in Blacksburg, Virginia has been vandalized,” StopAntisemtiism tweeted. “The Blacksburg JCC serves as a second home to many Jewish students at Virginia Tech.”
The JCC”s president, Eric Hallerman told WSLS that he found out about the vandalism from reading about it online.
“They scratched out parts of our sign and wrote things that were racist and antisemitic,” Hallerman said. “That’s hurtful, that’s hateful.”
Hallerman, the son of a Holocaust survivor, added: “So, these kinds of hateful things strike a little deeper than you might even think. I mean, my dad barely escaped with his life.”
He said that before he arrived at the JCC to remove the graffiti, he encountered a member of a nearby church already trying to remove it. He has also received an outpouring of support on social media and on Monday an area sign shop offered to create a new sign for the JCC free of charge.
The owner of Signarama, Kevin Altizer, who is not Jewish, told the news outlet that he wanted to help. He is designing a new sign that is “as vandal-proof as possible.”