The Oklahoma Democratic Party headquarters defaced by anti-Semitic graffiti. Credit: Kate Bierman via Facebook.
(April 5, 2019 / JNS) Over the last week, swastikas, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT, racist white-nationalist symbols and epithets defaced five public places in Oklahoma City and Norman, starting at the state's Oklahoma City-based Democratic Party headquarters. Similar incidences of graffiti were found at the headquarters of the Chickasaw Nation (a federally recognized Native American nation), the Cleveland County Democratic Party headquarters in Norman, a public elementary school and a nonprofit art center.
Democratic State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants spoke to JNS about growing up in Norman, Okla., as a Roman Catholic. "For the most part, Norman is a university community, very inclusive. Like in other parts of the Midwest, it's very Caucasian—my district is 80 percent Caucasian. Maybe there's an underlying racism in more rural areas, a fear of outsiders or immigrants because people are afraid for their jobs, but it's never gotten loud like this in urban or suburban areas. I've never seen anything like this in Norman. Anti-Semitism was literally never here before. I've never seen it," he said.