Racially Charged Graffiti at H.S. Refers to Election

Kilgore police investigating after messages found

Police said racially charged graffiti with apparent references to the presidential election was found spray-painted on a Kilgore High School gymnasium wall and at an area skate park on Wednesday.

Kilgore police spokesman Sgt. J. Gage said police will attempt to find video surveillance of the skate park spray-painters in action. No investigation is planned of the graffiti at the school because no official report was filed.

The messages were found a day after Barack Obama defeated John McCain to become the first African-American elected president of the United States.

One message found at the school said, "We want a recount" while another graffiti tag combined an expletive with a racial epithet.

Gage said a similar message spray-painted onto one of the ramps at an area skate park seemed to have been answered with a response aimed at McCain.

"We have a diverse community and we tend to find stuff like that written in restrooms and parks and convenience stores, but this was obviously a dig at what occurred last night during the elections," he said.

Some Kilgore parents were angry about the messages.

"Why would you want to go put that on a school for the kids to see -- all kids, not just the black ones and the white ones, but all kids," Kilgore parent Tanya Beall told Tyler television station KLTV. "Why would you want to do that?"

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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