November hate crimes

Mayor Ben Walsh releases statement on racist, anti-Semitic incidents around SU

Daily Orange file photo

Walsh said the Syracuse Police Department is actively investigating the swastika in the snow found on Comstock Avenue

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh issued a statement in response to a slew of racist and anti-Semitic incidents that occurred around Syracuse University’s campus over the past week. He called the acts “vile and appalling” and said they wouldn’t be tolerated.

The Syracuse Police Department is actively investigating an incident where a swastika was carved into the snow on Comstock Avenue, next to the 505 on Walnut, he said in the statement. SPD said the investigation was in its early stages in an email.

The swatiska is the fourth case of racist and anti-semitic language or imagery found around SU’s campus in the past eight days. Last week, racial slurs targeting black and Asian people were found on two floors in Day Hall. On Wednesday evening, language targeting Asian people was found in a bathroom in the Physics Building. Students on both floors of Day Hall were told not to record one meeting with administrators about the incident on Sunday.

Walsh’s statement reads, in full:

“Late Thursday afternoon, a swastika was marked in the snow on Comstock Avenue. This is another of several such racist incidents in our City in the past week. These acts are vile and appalling, and they will not be tolerated. The Syracuse Police Department is actively investigating this most recent incident, and they are also involved in the prior cases. We will keep working to find the people responsible.



I want to echo the comments made earlier this week by Governor Cuomo when he was in our City, ‘when you attack one of us, you attack us all.’ These acts are designed to divide our community, and they have no place in Syracuse. They violate everything our City stands for and all that we are working to be – a city that embraces diversity and creates opportunity for all. I reject them and direct city resources to do all that we can to stop them.”





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