Two Arrested After Defacing Textron Building With Antisemitic Graffiti in Providence
Thursday, November 02, 2023
Providence Police have arrested two people for vandalism and antisemitic messages on the Textron Building in Downtown Providence.
The two arrested are students at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
The building was defaced on two consecutive days. Other buildings have also been hit with antisemitic messages and anti-Israel postings.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRISD students Maggie Weng and Finch Bryant, both aged 19, were arrested on Wednesday by Providence Police and held overnight for allegedly spray painting “Kills Kids” on the Textron building.
Textron is a supplier of military equipment to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The Providence Police community response team and intelligence units tracked Weng and Bryant to their dorm rooms following a day-long investigation.
According to Providence Police Major David Lapatin, both suspects now face multiple charges.
And, according to Lapatin, whether or not Weng and Bryan will be charged with hate crimes would have to be determined by the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office.
In the past few days in Providence, there have been antisemitic messages and protest messages posted in multiple locations across Providence.
Antisemitism Spikes Across the Country
FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that antisemitism is reaching “historic levels” in the United States.
“This is a threat that is reaching, in some way, sort of historic levels,” said Wray during a Senate hearing Tuesday.
Wray said that was in part because “the Jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum,” including homegrown violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations, and domestic violent extremists, according to CNN.
“In fact, our statistics would indicate that for a group that represents only about 2.4% of the American public, they account for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes,” Wray said of the Jewish American population.
The colleges and universities have been hot spots. A Cornell University student is accused of posting online threats to kill members of the university’s Jewish community. He appeared in federal court Wednesday and was ordered to remain behind bars for the time being.
Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old junior at the Ivy League school, was arrested Tuesday and charged federally with “posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New York’s Northern District announced. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Most recently, student groups supporting Palestinians held a national walkout on Wednesday in support of Gaza and to protest U.S. funding of Israel, according to posts on social media.
The walkouts were held at over 100 college campuses according to multiple reports. The walkouts occurred at Brown University, Columbia University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Rutgers, New York University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, University of Virginia, and Yale University.
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