Vandal Takes Down 'Love Wall' Of Inspiring Messages In Oakland
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – After being covered with hopeful and inspiring messages on Post-its, a vandal targeted the "Love Wall" near Lake Merritt, the latest victim of a divisive election year.
Lisa Klein of Oakland said the wall drew her in.
"I've found myself driving here just to look at it," Klein told KPIX 5.
People spontaneously posted messages of comfort and hope. There was poetry up there.
"There was words of encouragement for peace, for love," Klein said.
In a matter of days the wall had taken on a life of its own, with hundreds of notes. A physical, tangible answer to a Facebook posting.
"The one thing that's gonna save us is not posting angry words on Facebook. It's not talking down to one another," said Stephen Fortner of Oakland. "It's trying to find out what makes you the same as other people, as opposed to different."
That was what the wall was supposed to do. On Tuesday, that all changed.
Cellphone video shows a man ripping the Post-its from the wall, one by one, while others try to stop him.
"Instead of knocking the messages off, post your own message. If you disagree, disagree respectfully," Fortner said.
But that seems more difficult than ever. In recent weeks, there have been reports of hate crimes across the nation. Locally, a San Jose State student was attacked in a parking lot, her hijab pulled violently. At area schools, bathroom walls vandalized with racist and homophobic graffiti.
In response, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office announced a new hate crime hotline.
The wall in Oakland is bare tonight, except for a sign directing people to a second location.
Around the corner, a fledgling wall is growing. Just a few posts so far, but not for long if people here can help it.
"I had the impulse to put out boxes of post-its and pens for more people to add," Klein said.
