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US Marines billboard in Baltimore vandalized with ‘Nazi’-like graffiti

“The perpetrator of this cowardly act of hatred should know that Baltimore will not tolerate antisemitism,” Zeke Cohen, city council president, told JNS.

Rowhomes in Baltimore
Rowhomes on William Street in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. Credit: Kathleen Tyler Conklin/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

A U.S. Marine Corps billboard in Baltimore City was spray-painted last week with the word “Nazi” in bold black letters, including a Hitler-style mustache drawn on an image of a service member.

Arch McKown, a local safety commission chairperson, saw the billboard on Dec. 3 at the intersection of East Baltimore Street and North Central Avenue, telling Fox45 News that he called Baltimore Police.

McKown said the graffiti was offensive not only to the Marines but to “our Jewish neighbors.” After calling the police, he called city council president Zeke Cohen, who is Jewish.

Cohen told JNS that “as the first Jewish city council president in more than 40 years, I will not stand for acts of antisemitism nor the desecration of the Marines.”

He added that “the perpetrator of this cowardly act of hatred should know that Baltimore will not tolerate antisemitism. I hope whoever committed this crime is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

“It’s a great victory for the First Amendment right to free speech, including the right to draw attention to bigotry and hateful speech,” Paul Eckles, of the Brandeis Center, told JNS. “We commend our client for having the courage to speak out.”
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