N. Portland Masonic temple leader to leave up racist graffiti
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Grand Master of a Masonic temple in North Portland said he wants to send a message by leaving up racist graffiti that was spray-painted on the temple overnight Wednesday.
Swastikas, racist language, death threats and illustrations of man in a noose were found on the building early Thursday morning.
John Bryant, Grand Master of the Son's of Haiti Grand Lodge on N. Mississippi and N. Fremont Street, said the incident took place sometime between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
He said he found the graffiti when he arrived at the temple early Thursday in preparation to go to Seattle to meet with other Masonic members at a conference.
Bryant said he was going to paint over the graffiti before he left to shield children from it but then decided against it. "I think people need to see this. I just want them to see it is happening in Portland. What can happen and what did happen."
Brant said he has no idea why his building or organization was targeted. He said the organization is a non-profit and "all we do is try to help the community."
"We've been here for 30 years at this particular [location] and nothing like this has ever happened," Bryant said. The majority of the temple members are black.
"This is terrible," lodge Grand Secretary Curtis Hicks said. "It's very disheartening."
In the last 12 years, Jeff Behnke said he's seen plenty of problems from his furniture repair business across the street from the temple, but never anything like this.
"I mean, we've been tagged a lot, but nothing racial like this, which is pretty disappointing and feels pretty dated, too," Behnke said.
In a press release, police said Bias Crime Detectives have been assigned to the case and are "actively working all available leads at this time." Police have not said if they have any suspect information.
The incident comes after a gunman associated with white supremacist organizations and music killed six people and injured three more in a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin last Sunday.
Police responding to the shooting injured the gunman, Wade Michael Page, 40, who then killed himself.
Bryant said he will remove the graffiti this Sunday after he returns from Seattle. Police said businesses near the temple said they did not have any security video with a view of the temple.
Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding this case to call Detective Kevin Warren at 503-823-3761.
Portland is sick of flash robs and other such behaviors. the one Nazi symbol is totally drawn WRONG, rofl. 8 year olds or the people there drew it up themselves for attention.
It was racist and it should be called what it is this is the type of stuff that is keeping pur country down. Untill we facce it this country will never change. One group wants to own the whole country when they themselve came from somewhere else. Imagined if the Native Americans decides to take their land back what would happened then?
 @Carla Delivert That 'Native' Americans slaughtered off the Solutreans (look it up) who were remarkably WHITE and on North America thousands of year earlier.
Maybe it was racist, maybe not. Maybe it was someone trying to get some attention and sympathy from the community, a community readily apt to give attention and sympathy in this situation.Â
It means maybe he did it himself. Can't you read between the lines?
@hankhandsome ......sorry sarcasm doesnt always come thru in print and I'm not clarevoyant.
@hankhandsome .......what kind of psychobabble is that?
Nope. Sorry, you don't get to do that; Portland municipal code requires property owners to paint over graffiti, or face fines and the cost of the city dong the job for you. I understand your motivations, but I'm pretty sure that your neighbors don't want to be looking at this crud any longer than is necessary to get the job done. If I lived next to this building, I'd give them until Saturday am, and then I'd do the job myself!
 @Mick Wagner I find it strange that you or the city suddenly makes the victim out to be the bad guy.
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Fining someone because they did not clean up a mess left by criminals. Pretty much explains how our country got so far off track, doesn't it?
""The incident comes after a gunman associated with white supremacist organizations and music killed six people and injured three more in a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin last Sunday."" It also comes just days after I had lunch at Red  Robin's. What does this have to do with the graffiti here in Portland, very little. LEts try to stay on track here, just another nut case with a can of spray paint. Let Sammie outlaw spray paint inside the city limits.
 @onceagainÂ
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O.K. they're making an unscientific connection suggesting the rise of intolerance. I agree with you that it is weak. It is a better connection to say that there were two mass shootings by mentally unstable people and that gun laws don't prevent crime.Â
I agree with keeping it up. Immediately painting over it or otherwise hiding it bows down to the people who did this. I think it is more empowering to leave it up (maybe post a sign about why the Grand Master personally feels it should be left up) and then paint over it with something beautiful -- maybe even going as far as to incorporate it into a mural for the community.Â
 @CTWUÂ
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I thought about incorporating into a permanent installation too but naturally it would require an interpretive center.
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The Temple decision is very powerful and removes power away from the bigoted taggers because the Temple decides how the voice of the bigot will be used and and for how long...the bigot is now the tool of the Temple. Surely the Temple understands the power that they might reclaim by their actions.
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The bigot made his statement in the darkness and hides his identity but the Temple stands in the light of day and says; "look upon what some ignorant fool has done here; they have left a mess upon our walls like a child that cannot control its bowls and creates a mess in its diaper. Truly we are our brothers keeper and will clean this mess and wish that the child grows a sturdy spine and finds and claims for his own those values that make men whole and recognizable as men among other men."
 @Icarus I agree. When I was young I think one of the most important things my dad told me (probably after I was teased or something) was that if I took the word away from the person using it, it was now my word and I could use it with power. Its a bit like killing someone with kindness (after all it really is almost impossible to argue with someone who is very nice to you and agrees with you).
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After that, I did exactly what my dad said. Ok, fine. You're calling me x, so what? I'm x. I've actually observed that some words seem to be being taken over by the people they were initially designed to hurt.Â
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I see this institution doing the same thing. By taking hurtful words and images away from the coward who put them there, the Grand Master is taking ownership and showing what people are capable of. He's going to paint over the image eventually. I appreciate his intentions and his plan to cover it up soon. And it has the community talking!
Many times I have argued that the racist bigoted remarks should remain posted on these KATU blogs because it proves that Portland is not the Liberal-Progressive bastion of enlightened thought but rather that reputation is just a good marketing schema. And, I agree with leaving these hateful words to demonstrate that Portland must always be vigilant against the rise of hate societies and the preachings of hate mongers; anybody remember Mulugeta Seraw?
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Hate speech and bigotry are nasty anti-social behaviors that always simmer just below the surface of any seemingly civil society or civil bureaucracy particularly those of an authoritarian nature: anybody remember the Possum Incident? And, hate can be quickly institutionalized and socially adopted as it was in the 1930's around the globe and has risen up like acne in Sierra Leone, Dar Fur, Somalia, Afghanistan, now in Syria and many other nations resulting in civil war, genocide, displacement, starvation, etc. In other parts of the world vigilance against hate...or tolerance... is a subject that is taught in the schools while other nations encourage intolerance. It makes me ill to see posts on KATU that promote social intolerance and hate speech but I believe that they should remain because they demonstrate to all the thinking people who believe in the American values of Equality, Justice, and Liberty just how fragile are those values and just how tenuous of them our grip. So that we are constantly reminded that it is a razors edge between civilization and chaos so that daily we are refreshed to promote the good and stand guard against those that would undermine it.
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The apologists for hate are the ones who say: "this is no big deal" or worse yet; "the blacks put it there themselves" these attitudes represent complacency and advocacy of bigotry and represent incitement of racial tension. These attitudes undermine the essential American values of Equality and Justice and threaten the peace.
 @Icarus I agree totally. Nice white people can never pass up an opportunity to pass the noxious gas of their racism.
 @Icarus Please tell us, Icarus, what do you think happened here?  Who sprayed the graffiti?
 @UtterRealityÂ
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Somebody who was ashamed of what they wanted to say. Kinda obvious...don't you agree? Who else would hide in the darkness to paint on wall then run away?
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Rats use the same tactics to forage for food; but rats don't scribble; therefore, it was clearly another species of nocturnal vermin.
@Icarus
 What I'm saying is, who knows what really happened here.
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Try to think about this like a detective. Â Who do you think that they'd investigate first? Â Most likely, it will be somebody connected with the Masonic Temple itself. Â Random crimes are rare. Â
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It could have been a current member, disgruntled former member, a neighbor, or a competing organization. Â Perhaps some radical organization (anarchists, communists, religious fundamentalists) are to blame - using the racial "hate" angle might just be smokescreen for an ulterior motive. Â Perhaps it's just some dumb 13 year olds down the street playing a prank.Â
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Some one else here says that they are leaving the paint up to stand up to bigotry. Â An equally credible argument could be made that they are leaving the paint up for maximum political effect. Â Who knows?
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The only facts here are a lack of facts. Â Jumping to conclusions based on emotion is just as dangerous as the bigotry that you so eloquently describe.
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 @UtterRealityÂ
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Are you disagreeing that it is pure cowardice to write hate speech on walls at night and then to run away? Facts is facts.
 @Icarus You're making way too many assumptions here.  Not everything is as it seems.
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So this a Black Freemason club? Maybe the culprit was a white mason who disagrees with letting blacks in the group. The proximity of the graffiti being put up to the mason meeting the guy is attending in Seattle raises an eyebrow. Masons of the upper echelon do have major superiority complexes, and disputed amounts of control and influence over the direction of society.
 @Phuzz Black Free Masons have been around since the 1800's. My great great grandfather was a free mason in Georgia. Even if this is a prank, this is not pretty or right. I wish they knew who did this, so the culprit could clean it off
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Tony Anton so if was done by blacks. Who target the Mexican food cart along the side of the Mason building. I guess Mexicans done that. Your such a troll.
whites can do it too
helter skelter
 @Tony AntonÂ
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Race-baiting troll.
 @Tony Anton "I think people need to see this. I just want them to see it is happening in Portland. What can happen and what did happen."
I agree its hard to see them leave up that hateful graffiti.  My first instinct was to walk down with paint and offer to help them cover it.  But after speaking with them this morning - I understand and respect their reasons for leaving it up.  When hate rears its ugly head, you cannot simply wipe it away and pretend it was never there.  If you have to face it, you understand that it is real, and that its heartbreaking.  And maybe it will motivate you to do good things and take a stand against this kind of unintelligent behavior.  In our community, love should become our legacy.
 @saltgirl Yup, I agree there are many things that we have to face rather we want to or not.
We must take into consideration that there is a strong possibility that this wasn't done by neo-nazis, or stupid kids, but by some anarchist types wanting to stir up the local community.
 @UtterReality Anarchists? Not usually about racism. At all.
 @Stuff It doesn't have to be about racism...this action could well have ulterior motives that are not readily apparent on the surface.I don't take any news stories at face value anymore these days.   I don't really see neo-nazis traveling out of their turf to North Portland to do this either.  Surburban white kids?  Doubtful. Â
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It's mostly likely some political group with some sort of agenda...what that agenda is and what their motivations are remains to be seen.
 @UtterRealityÂ
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So you're going completely bat guano conspiracy theory on this one.
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I've heard that arsonists are frequently drawn to fire investigations.
 @UtterReality Hardly their style. Â
Charles Manson wanted to instigate a racial war. His people left graffiti at the murder scenes to make it appear blacks had committed the crime.
Pro-Nazi creepy, racist bigotry idiocy, lynch-mob mentality, and sensleess vandalism. Leaving it up for more than a photo for evidence plays right into the punk's fantasy for 15 minutes of infamy.Â
Ah... graffitti... the "free speech" as defined / expressed by stupid racist cowards...  At least one of these cowards is exceptionally stupid; they didn't even get the swastika done right... (some of them in the photos are backwards)...
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I think probably most kids have seen swastikas before; on TV, if nowhere else... What they (and many adults) need to understand are the horrendous ideas that the swastika represented, as it was used in Germany some decades ago... and, for that matter, as it has been used more recently by neo-nazis and white supremecists in our own country.   Hate begins and ends with the people themselves...and no country is immune from it... Â
I agree that leaving it up might make people think. Then again it could make people numb to this kind of stuff.
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Either way I respect his decision as it is his to make.
Occupy Portland up to their old tricks for sure
 @ryanmang Troll
 @ryanmang Seriously?Â
I'm going to wait until the perpetrator is caught before making any judgments on this one...
Graffiti is ugly, whether it is racist or not. It isn't a badge of honor and average folks may only think you're too lazy to clean it up. I say get rid of it.
All graffiti is bad.
Thumbs down (if only we could!) to MacNCheez!
@Gravity Works! Hey, I may be wrong. But I totally disagree w/ Master Bryant's decision here. This is not an overtly racist city. Why keep it up and thrust this into the public eye. Perhaps it's an excerpt from a rap song?
 @MacNCheez  @Gravity Awareness of an issue can be its number one enemy. I get why he wants to leave it up. To cover it up is could be construed as acting out of embarrassment. To keep it up is a statement that they will not just react to acts of hate.
I think this might be stupid kids because one of the swastikas is drawn wrong. I know my European History. This is not a black and white issue when it comes to that symbol. That is offensive to every veteran and anyone in America.
That is my neighborhood and I can tell you it must have been someone who does not live around there. Mississippi Ave does attract D-bags too so I am sure its some punks who came in and did this. Whatever the case, racism and hate are NOT welcome in Eliot neighborhood in North Portland and everyone who is white that I know embraces diversity all across the board.Â
That judgement potentially shouts "self-perpetrated".