Police are investigating after a group of young people who went out for a morning game came across slides, swings and other equipment covered with anti-Semitic symbols and other offensive graffiti in a north-east park in London, Ont., On Tuesday.
Graffiti including the N-word and swastikas was found at Stephens Farm Park, just off Sunningdale Road east of Adelaide North, by children from Adventures in the Woods, an independent day school.
We spent the whole morning in the woods and then decided to go to the park, and as soon as we arrived, the children gasped and asked, “What happened to the park?” Said Alice Watson, an early childhood educator. who was with the children shortly before noon. “We talked a little bit about how sometimes there are words that people use that are very harmful to different groups and the children come up with the idea to clean it up.
“They chose to start cleaning it, and we took care to get rid of the harmful words. It was a lot of confusion with words and symbols.
The children used spray bottles and wipes to clean the graffiti painted with non-permanent chalk paint.
“We saw the word N and a lot of swastikas around,” Watson said. “One of our older children recognized this as a hated symbol and was quite upset because he learned little about the world wars and things that have happened in the past.”
Cameron Smith, 6, sprayed down the slide, which was covered in racist graffiti. (Submitted by Jennifer Benoit)
Police Chief Steve Williams condemned the hateful words and symbols.
“We are discouraged to learn about this condemnatory incident, especially given the symbolism behind the hateful images and words depicted, as well as the fact that it includes playground equipment,” Williams said.
“We would like to thank the members of the community who paid attention to this. The London Police Service condemns all acts of hatred and violence against individuals or groups in our community. We will continue to thoroughly investigate all incidents of this nature and apply fees as appropriate. “
Opportunity for teaching
For Watson and another teacher who spent most of the day outdoors with the children as part of the Woods Adventures school program, the morning lesson in hated language and cleaning was bitter.
5-year-old Olivia Smith works to clean a swing in the Vandal Park in London on Tuesday morning. (Submitted by Jennifer Benoit)
“I’m really glad we had this opportunity to learn about it and that they did [the children] they figured out for themselves that we should be nice to other people and we should clean up, ”Watson said.
Jennifer Benoit, owner of the Forest School, said she was proud that her young students had done their part.
“I hugged them all and told them I was so proud of them, and they shone,” she said. “We take them out every day to clean up the trash and teach them it’s not good for the environment so they know cleaning is important.”
In the afternoon, the children returned and drew hearts with chalk on the asphalt of the playground.
I ask everyone who has information about who left the graffiti to call the police.
Stephens Farm Park is right next to Sunningdale Road east of London’s Adelaide Street. (Kate Dubinski / CBC)
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