Incidents concern anti-hate groups - San Jose CA

[Coastie for Truth]

Bay Area organizations that monitor hate crimes are concerned about a rash of anti-Semitic and racist vandalism that has struck four cities.

Swastikas and violent anti-Jewish and racist messages were scrawled on an elementary school wall in Orinda. A business in Alameda was defaced with anti-Jewish graffiti. A synagogue door in Vallejo was egged with a swastika. And the Nazi symbol was burned into eight lawns in a Santa Clara area neighborhood.

``This is something that we need to be fearful and aware of,'' said Rick Callender, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP.

Callender said the rise in racist incidents in the Bay Area echoes a nationwide trend, including recent racist cross-burnings in North Carolina.

The Merc reports that since May 18, swastikas and an anti-black message have been chemically burned into eight lawns on Cypress Drive, an unincorporated area near Santana Row.