Jefferson Park stores defaced with swastikas

When Arcan Abu-hashish saw the black swastikas painted on his Jefferson Park smoke shop, he felt broken, he said, and scared.

“I just wish he’d leave us alone,” Abu-hashish said about the vandal. “It’s very disappointing, to see someone carry hate.”

The swastikas were painted on the shop’s back door, boarded-up front door and street sign on Tuesday night. The white supremacist graffiti also appeared at another nearby shop owned by people of color, Abu-hashish said.

As of Thursday, police have not made any arrests and said they are continuing to investigate. The business owner said he has a suspicion about who could have done it: a problematic former customer he believes is affiliated with a white supremacist gang.

“This is definitely something I worry about,” said Abu-hashish, who is Jordanian. “It’s targeted. … He’s racist to the bone.”

Police reported two businesses on the block were spray painted and wrote that the vandal was a man.

Representatives of a nearby cannabis dispensary that Abu-hashish said was also tagged with a swastika declined to comment when contacted by the Tribune. The dispensary is also owned by people of color, Abu-hashish said.

Another swastika was found painted across the street from a building used by the Ho-Chunk Nation, an American Indian tribe whose historic territory includes land in Wisconsin and Illinois, tribe spokesperson Kasey Brown said.

“It’s certainly not welcoming,” Brown said.

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While Brown wasn’t sure if the swastika was directed at his tribe, he said that dealing with racism and white supremacy is not new for the Ho-Chunk.

“As a tribal member, I’ve dealt with this my entire life,” he said. Still, the attack stuck out to tribal members, he added.

Ald. Jim Gardiner, 45th, said he has zero tolerance for the hateful messaging that appeared in his ward. The alderman’s staff called police when notified about the incident because it involved a hate crime, he added.

“Our nation has unfortunately witnessed the negative effects of hate messaging and therefore it is vital our community takes a strong stance to continue embracing and promoting the diversity and inclusivity that makes us proud to live and work in Jefferson Park,” Gardiner said.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation immediately sent a graffiti removal team upon learning about the incident and took down the racist marks Wednesday, department spokesperson Mimi Simon said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jakesheridan_