Did a Joe Biden sign lead to a swastika being painted at a 55-plus community in California?
The first sign of trouble inside this Northern California 55-plus community came around 2 a.m. Monday, when someone heard a dog barking at something.
Later that morning, a Sun City’s Lincoln Hills neighbor knocked on George and Alice Brown’s home on Yosemite Lane to tell them there was a swastika spray painted on their garage door and the word “move” painted on their driveway.
The Browns say they think the vandals targeted them simply because they have yard signs for presidential candidate Joe Biden and congressional hopeful Brynne Kennedy, both Democrats, in their front yard.
“The only thing we can think of is we have the signs for Biden and for Kennedy out in the yard,” George Brown said Wednesday outside his home, where the graffiti had been painted over and neighbors were flocking to the scene to offer words of support. “They’ve had other incidents here recently of people leaving notices on doors or under the mats of people who signs out threatening this and that. ... Obviously, it’s the same type of group that’s going around (to) anybody with a Biden sign.”
The incidents preceded Tuesday night’s presidential debate during which President Donald Trump created an uproar when asked to denounce white supremacy and instead ended up calling on the right-wing Proud Boys group to “stand back and stand by.”
But they reflect the divisive nature of politics today as the election nears, and the Browns say Lincoln police took a report and are investigating the incident.
The vandalism appears to be the first graffiti in the neighborhood, but the Lincoln News-Messenger reported last week that individuals with Democratic political signs in their yards have been targeted by at least two different fliers.
“Hello Neighbor,” reads one the newspaper published online. “I could not help but notice your zealous support of the Democrat Party.”
That flier criticized national Democratic leaders, including vice presidential nominee and California Sen. Kamala Harris, and referred to “all the low life radical scum destroying our Democrat run cities all over the nation.”
The other purported to be from someone whose “entire family used to be Democrats.”
“What did Joe Biden ever do for Blacks when he and Obama were in office?” that flier asked.
Lincoln police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Sun City Lincoln Hills’ interim executive director Robert Richardson sent members of the community, which is for adults over 55 years old, an email describing the graffiti incident as “an act of vandalism and cowardice I don’t believe we’ve witnessed here before.”
“I hope it wasn’t the outgrowth of these sign issues or that we are allowing the craziness of the world to seep into this community,” Richardson wrote to residents. “Although we are looking into all possibilities, I am hoping the coward(s) came in from the outside.”
That was the general consensus Wednesday on Yosemite Lane, where a mix of Biden and Trump signs co-exist as peacefully as the neighbors who reached out to the Browns to offer to collect money to help erase the graffiti or simply lend support. One woman brought the Browns a red rose she had picked from her garden.
“Everybody in this area came to us,” Alice Brown said. “They were so upset, Republican and Democrats. I truly believe that nothing happened from anybody inside Lincoln Hills.”
