Chico police are investigating a suspect in the June 2 graffiti assault that defaced 10 southwest sites in town with swastikas and racist language.
The man police say is a “potential suspect,” Thomas David Bona, 34, was arrested Wednesday in connection with a separate incident and was booked into Butte County Jail on suspicion of vehicle vandalism and a hate crime. A CPD press release says the man was “hitting at passing vehicles” early Wednesday near East Avenue and Tom Polk Way. Deputy Chief Matt Madden said Bona used a racial slur during an argument with an African-American motorist.read more
Activists want more police attention to the problem
By Leslie Layton | Posted June 4, 2019
photo courtesy of Miguette Sansegundo
A swastika was drawn using what might have been a black marker.
Police said today they’re investigating “possible leads” after a graffiti assault in southwest Chico left 10 sites defaced with racist insignia.
Swastikas and the wording “White Power” were found early June 2 on many of the walls that were struck, including those of a Mexican restaurant and private homes and businesses. A photo appearing on Facebook also shows vicious, spray-painted graffiti that included the N-word, the word “Nazi,” the letters “SS” and a swastika on the side of a building.
Chico Police Public Information Officer Michelle Walker said the graffiti was found off West Sacramento Avenue in various places, including on an apartment complex and gas station. Walker said she doesn’t believe officers have video footage to help the investigation, but “they’re working on possible leads.”read more
Racist, homophobic and sexist graffiti was used to deface faculty bulletin boards, photographs and office doors in Butte Hall during the April 6-7 weekend, according to police and faculty.
The Chico State University Police Department (UPD) released a brief statement that says it’s investigating the graffiti incident as a hate crime and “seeking to identify suspects.” UPD estimated the damage and clean-up cost at $400.
Police were contacted Sunday morning and the graffiti that had defaced the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice was promptly removed.
Two forums are now being organized at Chico State around issues of racism and student safety, and Tim Sistrunk, president of the Chico chapter of the California Faculty Association, says the union is assuming a role and wants to collaborate with police on behalf of teaching staff.read more
By Leslie Layton and Denise Minor | Posted April 2, 2019
photo courtesy of Vickie Nailing
When Vickie Nailing first came to Chico to pursue a master’s degree in 2015, she was taken aback by how friendly people were. She loved the community’s “hippy vibe” that reminded her of the 1970s.
“When I would pass strangers they would look me in the eyes and smile,” said Nailing, a graduate student in the Teaching International Languages program. “I’m from L.A. I wasn’t used to that.”
Nailing left Chico one year later to train English teachers in Ukraine on a Peace Corps program. When she returned in January, she sensed that something in the city had changed. Nailing, an African-American re-entry student, says she sometimes found herself facing upfront hostility and defensiveness.read more
Dyke claims Black Lives Matter promotes race violence
By Leslie Layton | Posted December 6, 2017
photo by Leslie Layton
Down Range co-owner and Vice President Steve Dyke
The billboard stating in white lettering on a black background, “Black Friday Matters,” was for Down Range Indoor Training Center co-owner Steve Dyke a clever piece of Black Friday marketing that placed his gun shop in the news and public eye.
That it played off the name of Black Lives Matter, an organization tackling the problem of deadly police shootings in black communities, was not problematic for Dyke, who is also an officer in the Chico Police Department. Dyke argues that Black Lives Matter is based on a “false narrative.”
But for many of the Chico-area residents who called the shop to protest the word play on Black Lives Matter as racist or otherwise offensive, the sign trivialized a movement fighting the use of lethal police force against residents of black communities.read more
sidebar to "Chico cop defends 'Black Friday Matters' sign
By Leslie Layton | Posted December 6, 2017
The complaint about the Down Range “Black Friday Matters” billboard was one of five that has so far been submitted to the Documenting Hate database from Butte County. Four other reports were made on use of racist epithets and stereotyping.
Here’s a summary:
A flier at Chico State was defaced shortly after the 2016 presidential election with white supremacist symbols;
A Latina in Chico says she was called a “wetback;”
A Chico teacher reported that her son was riding his bike to school when a car pulled up next to him and someone shouted, “Fuck you, Jew boy.”
An Oroville man reported that someone was overheard saying of him, “That’s a Muslim right there.” On the report submitted to the database, the man wrote, “… I have never felt like I don’t belong here as I do now. Since the beginning of 2016, people look at me differently… I wish things were different.” In a telephone interview, the man said he has Arab ancestry, is a U.S. military veteran and was raised as a Christian. He asked not to be identified. He said the shift in how he’s perceived by strangers is hard to “quantify” but palpable.
