March 5, 2020

USA: FAKE HATE CRIME Cecil B. Moore Mural Was Vandalized With Racist Graffiti. Community Was Horrified By This Act Of Racism. Philadelphia Police Need Help Finding Black Suspect Revealed In Video.


CBS3 News, Philly
written by Staff
February 26, 2020

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police have released images of the suspect wanted for spray-painting racial slurs on the Cecil B. Moore mural in North Philadelphia. Police say he was also caught spray-painting slurs at Brightside Academy and Habitat for Humanity.

The incidents happened on Feb. 15, between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

The suspect is described as a black male, between 25 to 35 years of age, with a medium build. He was wearing a black jacket, gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown shoes and carrying a black duffel bag.

If you have any information about this suspect, contact police at 215-686-3047/3048.

PhiladelphiaPolice published Feb 26, 2020: Central Detective Division is seeking the public's help identifying the male seen in the following video clips.

On February 22, 2020 between 6:00 am and 7:00 am, an unknown black male was captured spray painting racial slurs on the Cecil B. Moore mural located on the 17xx block of West Jefferson Street, Brightside Academy located on the 20xx North Van Pelt Street and the Habitat for Humanity located on the 1829 North 19th Street.

Suspect Description: Black male, 25-35 years-of-age, medium build, wearing a black jacket gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown shoes and carrying a black duffle bag.

If you see this suspect do not approach, contact 911 immediately.

To submit a tip via telephone, dial 215.686.TIPS (8477) or text a tip to PPD TIP or 773847.
All tips will be confidential.

If you have any information about this crime or this suspect, please contact:
Central Detective Division: 215-686-3047/3048
One of their own defaced this mural to push the racist amongst us narrative. That money could have been used to improve the community, not destroy property to make them live in fear. That's a pretty awful thing to do. Had this jerk not vandalized the Cecil B. More mural, would the community had cared about the other property he vandalized? (emphasis mine)

CBS Philly published Feb 15, 2020: Police Investigating After Cecil B. Moore Mural Vandalized With Racist Graffiti

ABC6 Philly news reporting.

ABC6 Philly news reporting.
The Philadelphia Tribune
written by John N. Mitchell
February 20, 2020

Just like new.

That was the consensus of members of the Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters as they milled about below the restored North Philadelphia mural that honors Moore less than a week after it was defaced with racist graffiti.

“It’s great to see that the mural has been restored,” said state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat who represents the 181st District, Thursday morning. “We’re grateful to the Mural Arts Program for restoring this beautiful mural. But let’s make no mistake about it. This was an act of racism — a gut punch. This is the kind of racism that Cecil B. Moore dedicated his life to fighting.”

Moore, who died in 1979 at the age of 63, was a lawyer who served as the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP who famously led protests that led to the integration of Girard College in 1968. He relentlessly picketed trade unions, forcing them to admit Blacks. In 1976, he was elected to City Council. He died before the end of his term.

The mural that features Moore is painted on a building where the civil rights icon once lived, at the intersection of Jefferson and Bouvier streets.

Residents on Sunday morning found that someone had painted a racial epithet with an arrow pointed to Moore on the mural.

The police have not made an arrest in connection with the incident.

Corin Wilson, a project manager with Mural Arts Philadelphia, said her organization jumped to restore the mural as quickly as possible and finished less than 24 hours after the incident.

“Remember, we are talking about children walking through the neighborhood and you don’t want them to have to see this,” Wilson said. “He meant so much to the neighborhood and we just wanted to restore it in the best way possible.”

Vivienne Crawford, an attorney and a member of the Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters, knew Moore as a little girl. He was good friends with her father, who owned the Crawford Hotel formerly at the corner of 17th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and inspired her to pursue a legal career.

“I owe my career to him,” Crawford said. “It hurt thinking some one one do this. But it look great now, really great.”

Crawford said that the defacing of the mural was in part due to the “racist rhetoric” that comes from President Donald Trump.

“To me, it is just a distillation of what has happened in this country since the resident at 1600 (the White House) took up residency there,” she said. “Not that it wasn’t out there before. But people feel free and like they have license to be more free to be bigoted. I don’t think that it would have ever happened before.”

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