Channel 10 News is running a story about somebody carving racist and nasty messages into freshly poured concrete in Ocean Beach – near the residence of Juan Viella, a five-year resident.
The messages were racist and political and were signed “OB SS” – “SS” being a Nazi reference.
Here are the messages that Viella found (WARNING: vulgarity approaching):
“Trump 2016,” “Fuck Bernie”, “Build the wall,” “No Fags, OBSS”
Viella has since scraped most of the hateful messages off the concrete on Lotus Street near Sunset Cliffs . He told Channel 10:
“I came across a new pour of concrete with some nasty messages. It could be a pointless act of vandalism or a pretty direct point. … The people visiting our community, I don’t want this to represent us as a community.”
Screen shot from Ch10 showing Viella scrapping the messages off the concrete.
To get the word out about the vandalism, Juan posted photos of the messages on the OB Crime Watch facebook – but then experienced a backlash in the form of nasty comments. He said:
“The purpose of me posting it on hOB Crime Watc was to make people aware of what’s going on in our streets. And instead I have the opposite response. I feel like I’m splitting up the community even more.”
The television news station reporting the vandalism and response, thought it found an issue, “an Ocean Beach neighborhood is divided” and ran with it.
But before we jump on their bandwagon, consider a couple of things.
OB has always had its share of extreme right-wingers, racist skin-heads, Klan members – and yes, even local Nazis.
What’s going on is that these groups now feel vindicated in their racist beliefs because of Donald Trump – who repeats what they already think – but on the focused presidential primary stage.
And OB’s local Nazis probably think the climate is right to emerge from their creepy shadows and target someone who fits the description of those in Trump’s spotlights of hatred.
To carve in fresh concrete the message, “Build the wall” just feet from the residence of a Latino, is not too subtle a message of racial hatred.
But come on, a community divided?
Many of the commenters on the OB Crime Watch facebook page are not even from OB. And certainly the handful of Nazis that Ocean Beach harbors cannot be described as a significant portion of the community.
So, we wish to assure Juan Viella that OB is not a racist village – yet, it has racists within it. And to really show Juan that this is true, there must be a community response to this white-supremacist vandalism.
As Viella said:
“If you can’t love your fellow neighbor then what’s left of humanity.”
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Way to go Juan! You are my new hero. Don’t let the Haters get you down.
Juan, thanks for cleaning up that mess and caring about the OB Community :-)
I have lived in OB 25 years and never have seen evidence of nazis in OB, this makes me sad. Brother, keep on, keeping on, let the trash take itself out.
There was no “backlash of nasty comments”. This guy is imagining things. OBceans don’t condone racism or vandalism, and overwhelmingly support locals like Mr. Viella that keep their community clean. The only bad taste was that it morphed into an unwanted discussion on national politics.
But Some OBceans are Racists and bigots. Fuck Fags, OBSS? And Trump’s racist dialogue around “Build a Wall”? That kind of hate should be exposed and fought. And I do commend Mr Viella for cleaning this stuff up, but also for being brave enough to expose it to the community.