Vandals trash interracial Ohio pair's home with swastikas, hate speech
Vandals break in, spray paint swastikas and slogans such as "white power" on the walls; ruin various surfaces with splattered cement.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: DECEMBER 6, 2016 10:10Graffiti on the walls of a Cincinnati couples home. (photo credit: PAT JUDE/ GOFUNDME)
When Pat and Joe Jude returned to a family-owned home in Cincinnati in late November after a Thanksgiving away, the interracial couple was shocked to find that vandals had broken in and defaced their residence with white supremacy and Nazi symbolism.Spray-painted swastikas and slogans such as "white power" and derogatory racial slurs covered the walls, and cement was splattered across many surfaces in the Ohio house, according to a GoFundMe page they set up.The couple explained that they had moved to Cincinnati from the South in 2006. "We have been been married for 34 years and have never dealt with this level of hate and bigotry," read the online fundraising page the pair set up to raise funds to repair the damages."We lost our son to suicide in 2010. We reside in Loveland and he was treated very racist because he was a biracial young man. He was called the N-word, and other unacceptable terms by his fellow students and residents of the town," stated the GoFundMe page.Their only other child, a daughter, had previously purchased the later vandalized home in the Cincinnati area after completing her Master's degree. When she received a promotion at work she was relocated to Chicago and left her parents in charge of the house.The Judes usually rented out the house, but in between tenants it was vacant during the Thanksgiving holiday. Cement was poured down the pipes of one Cincinnati family's home (Pat Jud/GoFundMe) The couple's GoFundMe page explained that while the couple had been away, vandals took over the house."While we were gone, sometime between Thanksgiving day and Monday, November 28 someone climbed in the window of the upstairs floor and demolished our house. Not only demolished our house but brought such hate and racism into her home by spray painting swastikas and white power all over. They wrecked every room. Nothing was spared. They even poured cement down the pipes."Last Friday, the couple created the GoFundMe page, and by Monday night the two had raised nearly $30,000, far exceeding their initial $2,000 goal.
An outpouring of support rushed in as donors commented, "Love has to stand up to the hate. All my prayers and good thoughts go to you today."Pat Jude has thanked the supporters, writing an update stating, "Thank you all over and over from the bottom of our hearts."