BRONX, NY – After anti-Black and vulgar graffiti was seen in the Spuyten Duyvil Playground on Saturday morning, Council Member Eric Dinowitz and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz issued the following statement:

 “Playgrounds should be places filled with the laughter of children and free from the world’s worries, and it is deeply disturbing that anyone would defile a playground with such hateful and vulgar language. As soon as the graffiti was discovered, we contacted leadership of the Parks Department as well as the NYPD. The Parks Department immediately removed the graffiti, and we urge the NYPD and Parks Department to continue taking this act of hateful vandalism seriously. All avenues to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators should be exhausted, including the review of any available camera footage as well as comparison of this graffiti to other graffiti incidents throughout the area. Everybody in our community, regardless of race or ethnicity or any demographic factor, deserves to feel safe and welcome — especially when they are playing with their children at a local park.”