Reader: It’s not easy to remove the stain of racial and ethnic hatred

The holidays have not been so happy in Colorado Springs, where recent acts of vandalism included a car on the south end of town covered with the large, spraypainted message message "I hate black people!" The city's graffiti-abatement team cleaned the car; the police are still looking for the culprit,...
By Patricia Calhoun
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The holidays have not been so happy in Colorado Springs, where recent acts of vandalism included a car on the south end of town covered with the large, spraypainted message message “I hate black people!”

The city’s graffiti-abatement team cleaned the car; the police are still looking for the culprit, Sam Levin reports.

But catching this particular perp and cleaning a car are just whitewash on an ugly problem.

Comments Cognitive_Dissident:

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I’m glad the graffiti was successfully removed. I wish it was as easy to remove the stain racial and ethnic hatred has left on this nation.

Well said. From our archives: “Target Practice: Racism and Police Shootings Are No Game.”

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12’s public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

patricia.calhoun@westword.com

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