CENTER LINE, Mich. (WXYZ) — People living near Evelyn Avenue and Potomac Street in Center Line believe they were the target of a hate crime after vandals spray painted their fences.
It happened Sunday in a neighborhood near I-696 and Van Dyke Avenue. Neighbors say they woke up to find male genitalia, homophobic slurs and racial slurs painted on to their backyard fences. Police say vandals also tagged fences along 11 Mile Road, which was city property.
"Sunday morning, we woke up and we were going to go apple picking and we saw the whole corner graffitied and that was a shock," said one neighbor whose fence was tagged with phallic symbols. "I have kids, and so that being exposed to the kids, it wasn’t a good experience for them to see all that."
A neighbor who lives across the street took the brunt of the vandalism. She says she believes she was targeted because of the color of her skin.
"It’s 2022. We're not evolving? It’s like you play with a box of crayons that has a lot of different colors in it, but you can’t get along with humans that are different colors?" said the neighbor, who wanted to be identified only as Karen.
Karen says she's lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade. She says she has never seen anything like what happened over the weekend and now feels unsafe.
"I feel violated because this is supposed to be America and we’re supposed to be free to do, speak, act how we want, but I can’t buy a house in Center Line without having this," Karen said as she stood on her front porch.
The Center Line Department of Public Safety has opened an investigation into the vandalism on behalf of the city. City workers went out to the site of the vandalism Tuesday morning to paint over and sandblast the spray paint off of private and public property.
"The City of Center Line is a community of acceptance and inclusion. We are a diverse community with residents and businesses of many different races, cultures, and sexual orientation,” City Manager Dennis Champine said in a statement.
Mayor Bob Binson also expressed his disappointment in the incident. He says it does not represent the people of Center Line.
"This kind of behavior will not be tolerated, and we will prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of law,” Binson said in a statement.
Karen says she wants vandals to know she won’t be moved by their ignorance.
"You did nothing. That didn’t even make me angry. It just made me want to pray for you," Karen said.
Investigators are still working to identify possible vandals responsible for the graffiti. Anyone with information about what happened should give Center Line police a call. It's unclear if police believe this was a hate crime or random. The investigation is ongoing.
