By Sheryl Estrada
A large rock that sits outside the front of South Pointe High School in Rock Hill, S.C., was vandalized with the words “Happy N****r Month” written in spray paint. It was signed, “KKK.”
Officials at the high school confirmed to Raw Story it happened on Sunday, Feb. 1the first day of Black History Month.
“It was discovered yesterday morning, and since then, it’s been eradicated,” a school staffer said Monday.
Photos wereposted to social media, however, showing the graffiti.
“People are still calling because it was posted,” the staffer added. “Whoever did it took a picture.”
It is unclear if the incident was reported to the authorities, but South Pointe students responded with a message of their own.
After the graffiti had been covered over, students repainted the rock with rainbow stripes, a depiction of the Earth and the words “We Are All =”.
THIS IS SOUTH POINTE. pic.twitter.com/w65IKoeO6H
SPHS Drama Club (@sphs_reptheatre) February 3, 2015
Vandalism of the rock was covered up this afternoon by Stallions reading, “We are all equal”. #StallionNation pic.twitter.com/VFAyDfJ4Yy SPiN Wired (@SPiNwired_) February 2, 2015
Rock Hill made headlines recently for acknowledging, and trying to atone in some way, for its own racist past.
The vandalism occurred only days after the convictions and sentences for the Friendship Nine were officially vacated during a formal hearing at Rock Hill Municipal Court on Jan. 28.
Named the Friendship Nine because eight of the nine Black men were students at the former Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill, they were arrested Jan. 31, 1961, for sitting at the McCrory’s whites-only lunch counter.
The young men were convicted of trespassing and protesting, and given a sentence of 30 days of hard labor on a chain gang. Their method of “Jail, No Bail” energized the sit-in strategy of the civil-rights movement.
