Police have increased their presence in one northwest Rochester neighborhood hoping to catch whoever is behind a series of hate crimes.
Farah Hilowle says his 16-year-old brother spotted the letters "KKK" and a swastika spray- painted on the side of his house on Hillsboro Drive Thursday morning.
The Hilowle's say over the past year they've had their mailbox destroyed, car windows broken, house hit with paintballs and now this latest incident involved spray-paint; the family believes it all has to do with their Somali background.
"If they don't want us here, well we're not going anywhere... we live here, we are part of this community and this is our house," says Farah Hilowle.
Farah's biggest concern with what happened is the next time it could be even more serious and at the moment police don't have any suspects.
"It's right in our backyard and it's kind of shameful," Hilowle adds.
On top of everything that the Hilowle's are dealing with, it's going to cost them a few thousand dollars to repair the side of their home.
Muslim group asks FBI to investigate 'KKK' and swastika graffiti
The Minnesota Council on American-Islamic Relations is asking the FBI to investigate "KKK" and swastika graffiti on the home of Somali family in Rochester as a possible hate crime.
“We urge the FBI and state law enforcement authorities to treat this incident as a civil rights violation and to send a strong message that incidents of hate will not be tolerated in our community,” said Lori Saroya, CAIR's Minnesota president.
The graffiti was written on the side of a home in northwest Rochester with black spray paint on Wednesday night.
"It's kind of a scary thing to look at," said Ayan Hilowle, 23, whose mother and father live with six children in the house. "In the beginning, we thought it was kids joking around, but this was a very hateful thing to do. It was like, 'What's next? Are they going to burn our house down?'"
Hilowle's family moved to the United States from Somalia in 1996. They lived in Owatonna until 2004, then moved to Rochester. Hilowle said they've had some negative comments from people since moving to the U.S. but have encountered nothing like the recent vandalism.
Hilowle's mother, Zainab Hassan, said that she would tell the vandals if she could that the family has been in the U.S. for 15 years and it's their home now. "We're not going anywhere," she said.
Neighbors rallied around the family Thursday night, helping scrub the paint off the side of the house.
Saroya said her organization is reaching out to the Rochester Muslim community and will be conducting safety trainings and outreach sessions there.
Rochester Officials React to Hate Crime
City leaders in Rochester are appalled after a swastika and the letters KKK were spray painted on a Rochester home. Meanwhile, police are asking for the public's help in figuring out who did this.
"It was hurtful to hear that it happened," said Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede.
While neighbors helped clean up the mess Thursday, authorities are now trying to figure out who did it.
"Cases like this there's not a lot of leads. This wasn't a witnessed event, we've not been able to identify a witness that specifically saw this event occurring," said Captain Brian Winters of the Rochester Police Department.
Despite what happened, Mayor Brede says he's not going to let this isolated incident stop him from creating a more inclusive community."
"21 percent by the latest census are minorities in Rochester...We are changing which is wonderful, but we don't need this," said Brede.
After hearing of the incident, the Minnesota Council on American-Islamic Relations is getting involved, releasing this statement saying "We urge the FBI and state law enforcement authorities to treat this incident as a civil rights violation and to send a strong message that incidents of hate will not be tolerated in our community."
"It violates our community values, it affects our economic and social well-being in the community," said Kay Hocker of the Diversity Council in Rochester.
While officials know they can't stop hate crimes from happening, they say more prevention can be done.
"Education with youth would be important way to approach that, but you can also have response to victims, have support for victims," said Hocker.
KTTCtv, Postbulletin Newpaper and KAALtv contributed to this report
Source: SomaliCare Blog
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