Slashed tires, a plugged exhaust pipe, damaged car locks, broken windows and graffiti calling for a race war: all this has been used to target the local community group, Washington CAN!
CAN! staff members, along with people from other local organizations, discovered the property damage and graffiti on Sun., April 25, when they showed up at CAN!'s office to discuss plans for a May 1 immigrant rights march, says Will Pittz, Washington CAN!'s executive director.
The front window had been broken, the glass likely shattered, Pittz says, by a metal ball flung at the office by a slingshot. Three tires were slashed on a 15-passenger van parked outside, its exhaust pipe plugged with foam, the car's locks glued shut (an act discovered later that morning). "But more disturbing were [graffiti] 'tags' on the vehicles that were white supremacist slogans," he says.
Those tags read "RoHaWa" and "88." At first, staff members didn't comprehend the meaning behind the graffiti, but someone with another organization believed the lettering referenced white supremacists. A Google search, says Pittz, helped them decipher the messages: "RoHaWa" stands for "Racial Holy War;" "88" represents "Heil Hitler."
Pittz says the Seattle Police Department replied to the call quickly, spending several hours taking evidence. "It was a fantastic response," he says. He also praises the support of other local groups and organizations that have contacted Washington CAN!, which has 35,000 members statewide.
As of Tues., April 27, he says police have not identified any suspects.
As for a motive, Pittz says it's impossible to guess what pushes people to such acts. He admits that the organization has recently achieved a higher profile in both local and national media. But he also points to the ongoing divisive nature of immigration reform in the country, as epitomized by Arizona's decision to make it illegal for immigrants, or even those suspected of being immigrants, to not carry identification; it also compels police to detain people they believe to be undocumented immigrants. "To think that we could get to a point that we are sanctioning racial profiling on a state level," says Pittz, "We need to respond to that."
Which means that Washington CAN! still plans to participate in the May 1 immigration rally and march. "[The vandalism] won't stop us from doing the work we have to do," Pittz says.
The 10th Annual May 1st March and Rally takes place at Judkins Playfield, 611 20th Ave S., behind St. Mary's Church. The rally starts at noon and the march begins at 12:30 p.m.