New Mexico restaurant vandalized with racist slurs and white supremacist messages

Jessica Flores, USA TODAY
·2 min read

A hate crime investigation is underway after vandals defaced the walls of a Santa Fe, New Mexico, restaurant with white supremacist messages and racial slurs, local authorities reported.

The vandals also ransacked some of the restaurant's furniture.

India Palace restaurant owner Baljit Singh found his eatery defaced with phrases like "White Power," "Trump 2020" and "F--- BLM" on Monday afternoon, according to the Santa Fe Police Department.

Greg Gurule, a public information officer for SFPD, confirmed to USA TODAY that the attack is classified as a hate crime and that the agency has been in contact with the local FBI Office.

"The case is still active and under investigation," Gurule said in a statement.

Singh said he and his employees were last at the restaurant on Saturday. The restaurant had been closed on Sunday.

Singh and his son, Baljot, estimated the cost of the damages – which include broken tables, shattered dishware, a damaged kitchen and more – at $100,000, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

The Singh family has owned the restaurant since 2013. For the past few weeks, they used the eatery to prepare food and care packages for the homeless community amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

“This is our livelihood, you know,” Baljot told the Santa Fe New Mexican. “And seeing it torn down and vandalized, it hurt. It truly broke our heart.”

On Twitter, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said she was "absolutely heartbroken and disgusted by this racist attack." She added, "We will not stand for such hatred in New Mexico."

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber also called the hate crime "sickening and appalling."

"We will find whoever did it and punish them to the full extent of the law. We absolutely reject racism, intolerance, and hate," Webber said on Twitter.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism in a statement Tuesday.

“This disturbing hate attack once again demonstrates that growing white supremacy, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and racism target every minority community and must be challenged by people of all races, faiths and backgrounds,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

“We call on President Trump, whose name was used by the hate vandals, to stop promoting bigotry and division and instead seek to bring our nation together at this time of crisis,” Hooper added.

This incident comes after city officials in Oakland, California, launched two hate crime investigations in two consecutive days after finding a human effigy hanging from a tree near a city park where ropes were also found hanging from trees.

Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan speaks Wednesday, June 17, 2020, in Atlanta, while proposing his own version of a hate crimes law for the state. Duncan is calling on lawmakers to create a free-standing hate crime and to protect many categories from bias crimes, including people victimized because of their culture and their status in exercising First Amendment rights including worship, free speech, free press, assembly or petition of government. (Riley Bunch/The Daily Times via AP) ORG XMIT: GAVAL201

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Santa Fe restaurant vandalized with racist slurs; New Mexico