Anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim graffiti has been appearing across South County, and the St. Louis County Police Department is seeking the public’s help to identify who might be responsible.
On May 23, at approximately 8:47 a.m., officers responded to a call in the 3600 block of Bayless Avenue, where anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim rhetoric was spraypainted on two concrete barriers. Similar graffiti was later found on the wall of the Turkish American Society of Missouri in the 600 block of Lemay Ferry Road, and again near a utility box. According to the police department, it is unclear exactly when the vandalism occurred.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, shared a statement on the reported vandalism, saying, “We strongly condemn these acts of anti-Muslim hate and intimidation targeting residents in Missouri. Bias-motivated vandalism and hate rhetoric contribute to a climate of fear and division that threatens the safety and well-being of American Muslims and other minority communities. We urge law enforcement authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and hold those responsible accountable.”
Anyone with relevant information or video regarding this investigation is asked to contact the Division of Criminal Investigation at 314-615-5400.
Other graffiti has popped up around South County in the past year or so, including swastikas and white supremacist phrases that were spraypainted on the side of Rogers Middle School in Affton. Most recently, stickers have appeared in Officer Blake C. Snyder Memorial Park in Green Park, promoting a club for masked white males seeking to “Reclaim America” with logos and QR codes. Promotional stickers cropped up along the park’s trail on water fountains, poles and various park structures.
On the club’s website, introductory videos display rhetoric like “Deport Invaders” and believing in the “ethnic interest of Americans as those descendant from the original European settlers of this land.” Online promotions for the club ask that members be heterosexual and are of “historically European faith.”
