Some disturbing news from Rochester, Minnesota. The home ad lawn signs of first-term DFL Rochester Minnesota state representative Kim Hicks was struck by vicious racist and antisemitic vandalism.
I first learned about the incident in Sara Guymon's reporting by the Rochester Post Bulletin, Rep. Kim Hicks' property vandalized with hate speech and racial slurs:
Her political signs, house and shed were all vandalized in the night by masked assailants and Hicks feels she knows this was a targeted attack.
Minnesota Representative for District 25A, Kim Hicks, and her family woke up to an unexpected nightmare on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024.
Hicks’ political signs, house and shed were all vandalized in the night by masked assailants. Hicks said she knows this was a targeted attack.
“This was planned. It wasn't like they drove by and we're like, ‘oh my gosh, we're gonna terrorize some political signs.’ This was targeted against my family. It is a hate crime. Rochester has been having a bit of a racial reckoning and I think it's important that we say it out loud. This is a racially motivated hate crime.”
Hicks is married to a Black man. They have children who are Black, and she says the last thing she wants was to expose her family to something like this.
“They started off by spray-painting our political signs and they use the 'N word' and swastikas and 'white power' and all of the typical racist words you would expect from white supremacists and Nazis,” Hicks said. . . .
Guymon reported that Hicks didn't think that area Republicans were behind the attack:
“I would really like to see the Olmsted County GOP come out and say they condemn racist attacks,” Hicks said. “All of them and their endorsed candidates. I don't think this was them. I think this was somebody who has hate deep in their heart, but I think we should all stand together and say this is wrong in our community and I would hope that they would all do that.” . . .
On its Facebook page, the Olmsted County GOP published this statement on Sunday:
Black spray-painted swastikas, a racial slur and the letters “KKK” were found on a Rochester state legislator’s home and lawn signs for her re-election campaign, as well as signs for Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Vice President Kamala Harris.
State Rep. Kim Hicks, DFL-Rochester, said she woke up Saturday morning to find the graffiti on the signs, on one of her windows and her shed. Home security video showed people in masks spray-painting in the middle of the night, she said.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence it occurred after we put up a Kamala [Harris] sign,” Hicks said Sunday. She said she’s worried about a pattern of racist graffiti in Rochester, especially after an anti-Black slur was painted on a pedestrian bridge near a city high school earlier this summer.
In a Facebook post, the NAACP Rochester Minnesota Branch said they saw the vandalism as a “textbook case” of a hate crime.
“This is yet another incident in a series of many that have targeted Black people, brown people, and mixed race families in [the] City of Rochester, MN and Olmsted County,” the post read, calling for those accountable to face serious criminal charges. . . .
Over the weekend, as Rochester-area news outlets posted the news, Hicks said she has seen comments on websites and Facebook pages claiming she staged the graffiti, and speculating about her children’s skin color.
“There are just some weird racial undertones, weird racial language,” she said. “There’s a political piece, but there’s also just a racial hate piece, and that rhetoric is happening all over the place”
But Hicks said her community rallied to help the next morning, showing up with supplies to remove the graffiti and apply fresh paint. . ..i
On Saturday afternoon, Hicks posted her thanks on Facebook:
Today was so hard but then our community showed up. My family felt so much love and support. Thank you Katie Brekke, James Wright,Tina Liebling,Beka Spitzack, David Andrew Kujawa, Sarah Kujawa, Regina Mustafa, Olivia Bergen, William Bud Whitehorn, Stephanie M Whitehorn, Andy Smith and so many more.
We are so thankful for all the support. The shed is repainted. The spray paint is mostly off the siding. We will replace the window next week.Not in our town!
Last night, Rochester's KTTC TV reported:
State DFL chair Ken Martin posted on Facebook:
Bluestem hopes Rochester law enforcement catch the offenders.
Photo: Some of the offensive graffiti at Hicks' home. Via Facebook.
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