It’s a sad commentary on today’s world but, yes, we can find President Barack Obama’s name in hate-filled messages about race.
Workers at Brooklyn’s Best Locksmith and Hardware found several of these messages stenciled onto their business at the corner of East 48th Street and Avenue N Thursday night.
The message, which read, “Obama people not welcome” was left on the side of the business as well as the sidewalk in front of the front door — possibly by a disgruntled customer.
The vandal apparently wanted everyone to know that African Americans weren’t treated fairly at Brooklyn’s Best Locksmith and Hardware, a statement that owner Alan Butrico wholeheartedly refutes.
“I was shocked when I saw it,” said Butrico. “I’ve been in this neighborhood for 20 years and I deal with everyone…white, black, green. It’s like the United Nations in my store.”
“My store manager is black,” he said, adding that his employees run the gamut of creeds, colors and cultures. “My wife voted for Obama. So who’s an Obama person?”
Cops hope to find some answers when they apprehend the vandal, who they believed was upset because Butrico’s people wouldn’t refund a jigsaw he purchased from the store a few days earlier.
Butrico, who did not witness the attempted refund, was told that when the man brought the tool back it was damaged. His employees soon discovered that the man had used it to cut down trees, which jigsaws are not designed to do.
When he was told that they would not refund the item, he “got nasty and threatened my workers,” Butrico said.
It’s believed that the man stormed off with vengeance on his mind — vengeance that he was already prepared to mete out.
That night, with the help of a specially designed stencil, a man fitting the irate customer’s description was seen leaving the Obama message in blue spray paint.
Witnesses reportedly saw the vandalism and chased after him, but the wall scrawler — described as a black male sporting rings on all of his fingers — ran off.
Cops cordoned off the area Thursday night and began an investigation into a possible hate crime.
By Monday, the incident had been downgraded to simple vandalism — another point that Butrico refutes.
“Graffiti is when someone comes along and spray paints your wall,” he said. “When a guy comes in and stencils ‘Obama people not welcome,’ that’s racial.”
Butrico said that the police’s decision may have been sparked by another color entirely — not black or white, but blue.
“When the guy tried to return the item, he said he was an ex-cop,” he said. “This is definitely a hate crime and [the police] are shutting it up.”
A source from the 63rd Precinct said that the case was downgraded because the vandalism was not directed toward any one person or group, not because of an imagined connection between the vandal and the NYPD.
While Butrico said that he runs a multi-cultural business, he freely admits that he didn’t vote for President Obama.
“I don’t vote,” he said.