SpokaneFāVS
By Elizabeth Backstrom and Elizabeth Schindler
A volunteer cleanup crew of more than 200 people joined staff at the Salish School of Spokane on Saturday to help paint over racist graffiti found on the walls and whiteboard May 4. Attendees included City Council President Ben Stuckart and Rep. Andy Billig, as well as leaders of the Colville and Spokane tribes.
The school, which operates a childcare center, ECEAP center, and provides Salish language classes, currently does not have security cameras, and staff said they don’t know how vandals entered the building.
Representatives from No-Li Brewhouse in Spokane plan to donate a security system to the school.
Police are investigating the incident, one of a string of recent hate crimes in Spokane, including anti-Semitic slurs found painted on the Community Building downtown and vandalism at the Martin Luther King Center.
Elizabeth Backstrom majored in journalism at Western Washington University and currently works as remotely as a grant writer. Her background is in news writing and features, but if an overabundance of caffeine is consumed, she has been known to write a humor piece or two. Backstrom attended various Christian churches growing up in Washington State and in her free time enjoys reading about history, religion and politics.
