‘Makes us sick’: Swastikas, antisemitic graffiti on Charlotte YMCA sidewalk, bus and sign

As local Jewish Community Center sports league members left their Sunday-morning softball games, workers at the neighboring Ballantyne YMCA found swastikas and antisemitic messages on a bus, the sidewalk and the back of a parking lot sign.

By Sunday afternoon, police started investigating and Morrison Family YMCA employees continued working to strip the black spray paint from the sidewalk and the white bus used to move groups of children around Charlotte.

“I don’t know what makes people want to do this anywhere, but especially here,” said Nate Jones, a 32-year-old membership coordinator who has worked at The Y since he was 16.

“It makes us sick.”

The YMCA at the corner of Bryant Farms Road and Community House Road of about 3,500 members immediately called police, according to a statement from the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

Some people posted in dismay on social media saying that they saw the vandalism as they left their Jewish Community Center games at Ballantyne District Park, which shares an address with the Y. (The Y and the county park entered a partnership in 2010.)

CMPD investigating antisemitic graffiti

Officers started investigating Sunday, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department incident report. They had not made any arrests as of late Monday morning.

The report filed Sunday afternoon does not mention what was painted on the YMCA’s property, only that a daycare bus was vandalized with graffiti.

The department is not investigating the vandalism as a hate crime, but “the classification could change” as the investigation continues, a spokesperson said.

“Hate speech and symbols of intolerance have no place in our society, and certainly not at our YMCA,” said Y spokeswoman Heather Briganti. She asked that anyone with information to call the CMPD at 704-336-7600 .

Antisemitism in Charlotte

Antisemitism has been on the rise nationally and in Charlotte, as the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League reported 8,873 antisemitic incidents nationally last year, a 140% increase from the number of incidents in 2022.

North Carolina saw at least 39 antisemitic incidents across the state in 2022, up from 30 the previous year. That marked a 200% increase from the 13 incidents logged in 2020.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the “neo-Nazi” and “white supremacist” graffiti at the Y, which included the words “Save the White Race,” it said in a news release Monday.

CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, encouraged local, state and national leaders to speak out “clearly and forcefully against the rising bigotry targeting all minority communities.”

Briganti, the Y spokesperson, said her team is “committed to restoring our space and ensuring that our center remains a welcoming and safe environment for everyone.”

“Any remaining vandalism that cannot be addressed today will be resolved promptly,” she said.