Racist Salem graffiti carved into newly poured sidewalk

Salem police said two juveniles were charged Thursday with vandalism after an investigation into the incident on Jefferson Avenue.

May 30, 2024 4:59 PM EDT | Updated May 30, 2024 6:35 PM EDT

SALEM, MA — Two Salem juveniles are facing vandalism charges after racist graffiti was found Wednesday night on an area of ​​a freshly poured cement sidewalk on Jefferson Avenue.

A disturbed reader alerted Patch Thursday morning to the racial epithet that was scratched into the cement near the corner of Willson Street. Later in the day, Salem police said an investigation into the incident identified two juvenile suspects — whose names have not been released because of their ages.

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Police said the two juveniles will not be charged with a hate crime, but will be charged with vandalism.

“Given the totality of the circumstances — the identities of the suspects, the cooperation
their families and interviews conducted, it was decided that a hate crime designation
it’s not appropriate,” police said.

Dan Welch told Patch that he and his wife were walking down the street Wednesday night when “the kind of thing you could pucker your lips at growled at us” when they noticed the writing on the new sidewalk.

“Hate Crime or Hopeful Crime?” Welch told Patch. “It doesn’t really matter. We shook our heads and moved on, worried about what our students who walk this path—and so many others who do—might think and feel.

“And vowing, as much as ever, to continue to be who we are and to teach and speak of the truth, of a new world that is possible.”

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)