Someone scrawled swastikas and the words “Go Trump” on the playground in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights on Friday.
At least three parents found the offensive vandalism on the popular kids’ play spot — named for the late Brooklyn-born Beastie Boys member — and reported it to state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D–Brooklyn Heights)’s office that day, according to a spokesman for the pol.
Police got word of the anti-Semitic scribbles at around 3 pm, and are now investigating it as a hate crime, according to a department spokeswoman.
Parks workers scrubbed the sullied play equipment on Friday night, and locals covered it in paper hearts, flowers, and chalk peace signs the next day — buoying the spirits of parkgoers, who said they were pleased to see their community battling hate with love.
“Obviously I had very much a negative reaction, especially in a park where all the kids come, but this is great it makes you feel proud,” said Jonathan Dawson, who lives around the corner from the park. “I think it reflects the true feelings of the community.”
Squadron and other local political and faith leaders are also holding a rally in the park to “stand up against hate” on Sunday — and Beastie Boys member Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz will be there, according to Squadron.
This isn’t the first incident of Donald Trump-related hatred in the area since the Republican won the presidential election — a Trump supporter also reportedly punched a woman in the face after a political argument in a Boerum Hill bistro on Saturday, and someone wrote “Trump!” on the door of the Muslim prayer room at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering Downtown on Nov. 9.
But Brooklyn Heights is also a longtime target for anti-Semitic graffiti — vandals have drawn swastikas on local synagogues, apartment buildings, cars, and even the neighborhood Trader Joe’s in years past.
Yauch a secular Jew and practising Buddhist who railed against human right abuses and Islamophobia.
Yauch died of cancer in 2012, and his fans now gather annually at his namesake park near the anniversary of his death for “MCA Day.”
Rally in Adam Yauch Park (27 State St. betweeb Columbia and Willow places in Brooklyn Heights). Nov. 20 at 11:30 am.
