SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – When the sun rose on Monday morning in this community, the light revealed something that had not been there before: racist slurs and anti-Semitic symbols were scrawled across road signs, bridges, guardrails and pavement.
The community, which members say is known for love and inclusion, cannot remember a similar incident in the past six decades or more.
Chazmen Proctor grew up in Little Africa and is raising his 6-year-old son there. Family contacted him this morning notifying him of the vandalism and asking if he’d seen it yet.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t seen it yet,’” he said, “but [my cousin] sent me a picture of it and instantly I got heated.”
Proctor’s sister, Sundra Proctor Smith, told 7News the the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
“I got emotional when I saw it because I couldn’t believe someone would do this,” Proctor Smith said.
Neighbors in the area spent much of Monday scrubbing the words and symbols off the surfaces they covered. One resident, Lauren Crain, took acetone and a rag to one street sign with a swastika on it.
She erased the paint on the sign, making the swastika into a heart.
“It was horrible and disgusting,” Crain said, “so we made it into a heart.”