A mural honoring Philadelphia civil rights activist Cecil B. Moore was found to have been vandalized with a spray-painted racial slur on Saturday morning.
The mural, which is located on the 1400 block of North Bouvier St. and West Jefferson St. in North Philadelphia, was discovered by neighbors to have the F-word and N-word spray-painted on it early Saturday.
- MORE NEWS
- Ex-Philadelphia Navy Yard contractor sentenced to prison for lying to FBI about white supremacist ties
- 18th-Century log cabin discovered during demolition of Pennsylvania bar
- Philadelphia teachers union wants state of emergency declared as two more schools close due to asbestos
Philadelphia police are currently investigating the situation, but no arrests have been made yet. The police are asking anyone with information or a tip on the vandalism to the mural to let officials know via phone at 215-686-3093/3094 or 215-686-TIPS (8477). You can also email the police at tips@phillypolice.com.
Moore, who was born in 1915, served in World War II as a Marine before moving to Philadelphia and attending Temple University. While a resident of the City of Brotherly Love, Moore was a civil rights defense attorney, the president of the local NAACP chapter, and a City Councilmember.
Moore, who reportedly marched with Martin Luther King Jr., was famous for helping fight to integrate Girard College.
According to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday, Pennsylvania had 74 documented incidents of white supremacist propaganda in 2019. Roughly a third of those incidents happened in Philadelphia. In 2018, 40 incidents occurred in Pennsylvania, including nine in Philadelphia.
The distribution of white supremacist propaganda more than doubled across the country last year, according to the ADL. The circulation of such fliers, posters and banners increased by 120% from 2018.
The ADL's report was supplemented by its ADL H.E.A.T (Hate, Extremism, Anti-Semitism, Terrorism) Map. The interactive tool catalogs a range of hate-inspired incidents, from anti-Semitic incidents to terroristic plots, since 2002. The map shows 454 hate-inspired incidents in Pennsylvania between 2002 and 2019.