Racist graffiti targets Tacoma couple
(KING/NBC News) A 75-year-old Tacoma, Washington man who spent months inside recovering from COVID-19 walked out of his house for the first time to find a racist message spray-painted onto his garage.
Robert and Melody Batie are familiar with America’s racial wounds.
“That a person thinks, in 2020, they can write this on someone’s garage and get away with it, and that’s basically what they’re doing,” said Robert Batie.
He came out of his house on Monday, for the first time in weeks, only to find expletives, including the N-word, painted onto his garage.
“Fifty-five years we’ve been married to turn around to say we haven’t gone anywhere, it hasn’t changed,“ said Melody Batie.
This time around, they want people to understand the depths of frustration and hurt among the black community.
Anthony Sinisgalli lives in the neighborhood and posted a photo of Robert Batie standing in front of the vandalized garage on Facebook.
Sinisgalli said he broke down into tears when he saw the racist message left on his neighbor’s home. The post has since been shared hundreds of times resulting in the community stepping in to repaint the couple’s home.
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