Vandals scrawl ‘Jew’ on rats in DC art display
For third time in a week stenciled installation in Chinatown defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti
WASHINGTON — Vandals have repeatedly scrawled the word “Jew” on images of rats appearing on an outdoor Chinese Zodiac art display in Washington, DC’s Chinatown.
Maintenance crews employed by DowntownDC, a private non-profit that encourages business in the city center, on Monday cleaned the graffiti from the Zodiac artwork, the DCist news website reported.
Michael Villafranca, a passerby, notified police when he saw the defaced Zodiac animals, which are stenciled among the crosswalk lines at 8th and H Street in Washington’s northwest quadrant. He posted a photo on Twitter.
It was the third time in a week that the installation has been defaced with the word.
“I am so disturbed and sickened to see this walking into work, and in DC of all places,” Villafranca said in an Aug. 3 tweet. Another passerby had posted a photo of the vandalism.
Other animals in the Zodiac display were left alone.