In words and deeds Swampscott has scorned the hatred visited on the town a week ago and renewed efforts to deny intolerance to set down roots.
The couple who discovered a swastika scrawled on a sidewalk near the middle school felt anger and a sense that they had been robbed — even briefly — of the sense of security that comes with living in the seaside town.
No one has confessed to the graffiti deed. A suspect or group of culprits may be responsible for drawing the symbol of hate and defacing the middle school and town property around it with additional graffiti.
Contemplating why someone scrawls hate-minded graffiti anywhere is like stepping into a dark alley of the mind that extends into grim and awful places. The swastika is a symbol dripped in blood, cloaked in horror and forever descriptive of the worst acts human beings are capable of performing.
There are Russian-Americans and Jewish-Americans living in Swampscott, Marblehead and Lynn who would gladly sit down with those responsible for last week’s hate-filled acts and explain why the swastika is an offensive symbol.
It is not only an affront to people who lost parents, grandparents or other loved ones in the Holocaust; it is also an insult to millions of Americans who fought and died or lost loved ones who died liberating Europe and North Africa from the Nazis.
With those sacrifices in mind, it is ironic that the Swampscott swastika scrawler(s) selected a significant historic date to express their hated. April 16 marks the start of the 1945 Soviet invasion of Berlin that extinguished Nazism.
To Swampscott’s credit, much has been done to banish hate and counter intolerance. Anti-Defamation League (ADL) officials said the high school enjoys an enduring partnership with the agency based on educating high school students to teach fellow students ways to avoid bias.
The ADL has recommended approaches to reinforcing those teachings by allowing high school students, with permission from school officials, to talk to middle school students about bias and intolerance.
Town officials and residents took their own steps in the wake of last week’s discovery to banish hate with the town issuing a statement condemning the graffiti and residents holding rallies. There are those who might suggest the scrawled swastika represented a cry for help as well as an expression of hatred. Thankfully, Swampscott has plenty of help to offer and no tolerance for hate.