COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus police continue to pursue a suspect caught on surveillance camera in connection with white supremacist graffiti stenciled on downtown Columbus buildings which was discovered early Saturday morning.
Police released two more photos and a video on Wednesday morning.
The suspect is described as a white male wearing glasses, a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and a black backpack.
Locations bearing the painted logo of an organization called Patriot Front included the Cummins Corporate Office Building and First Presbyterian Church. Both entities have long been outspoken about racial injustice, including days ago at a rally for stopping hate of Asian-Americans. Cummins leadership also issued a statement last week on voting rights in the wake of a newly passed measure in Georgia that critics said is intended to keep minorities from voting.
The same graffiti also was found Saturday in other nearby cities such as the Cincinnati metro area, according to news reports.
The Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center both classify the group named in the stencils, Patriot Front, as a hate group. The stencils included the message “Reclaim America” and the organization’s website, which The Republic has blurred from photos.
“We’re hoping to get additional images (of the suspect),” said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman. “And we’re hoping someone steps forward who can identify the suspect.”
Harris added that people may provide tips anonymously. A detective is reviewing other security video footage as part of the investigation, he said.
Mayor Jim Lienhoop, who regularly has decried racism in all forms, released a statement Monday about the incidents.
“All groups with these (white supremacy) beliefs are antithetical to what Columbus stands for, and I don’t want to give any attention to any of these groups,” Lienhoop said.
“The statements and symbols in no way represent our community. In Columbus, we welcome people of all colors, nationalities and ethnicities, who bring with them a rich culture and diversity that benefits us all. These contributions have not only enriched our community, but have allowed our community to flourish economically, enabling us to continue to bring in a dynamic workforce to support local, regional, national, and international companies. Columbus celebrates this diversity, and this is what makes it the ‘Unexpected and Unforgettable’ community we are proud to call home.”
Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger said that the white supremacist graffiti on the company’s corporate office building in Columbus was sad, “very, very disappointing” and “just wrong.”
“We feel very strongly that our communities should be places of welcome and inclusion for all people, and that’s one of the great strengths of Columbus,” Linebarger said. “One of the reasons (that Columbus) is a small town that has done remarkably well in the face of decline in many other small towns is because it has been a place of energy and inclusion and people wanting to come live there from all kinds of places and bringing new economic activity, new ideas, new dynamism to the community.
“When I walk down the streets in Columbus today and go to the restaurants on Fourth Street, I think, ‘this place is thriving.’ And I think it’s largely due to our diversity and our energy. And so when I see messages of exclusion, it not only seems wrongheaded, like missing the whole point of what makes our communities great, but it’s threatening and bullying to those that should be welcomed and welcomed with enthusiasm,” he said in a phone interview with The Republic.
“It’s sad, it’s disappointing, and I feel badly for those that are impacted directly and feel excluded. I feel that it’s just wrong,” he said.
Linebarger said the graffiti “brings up issues of safety” for members of the community and Cummins employees.
“I always worry about the safety of our employees and how safe they feel in our communities,” Linebarger said. “…Our conversation about Asian American employees and expatriates was exactly that safety question, and so this, I think, brings up issues of safety for other members of our community and employees. So I do worry about that.”
This marks the second time in several years — the last was October 2017 — that a group linked to white supremacists has left a mark on the city.
In the last instance, an organization called Midwestern Alliance placed and distributed posters at public locations in Columbus — and in a number of other states across the country — in support of its goal to establish a white ethnic state in Midwestern states. Its posters said the group was looking for young Midwestern patriots.
Besides Cummins and the church, graffiti was also found in Friendship Alley between Fourth and Fifth streets downtown and on the parking garage on Jackson Street. Downtown business owners said they noticed the graffiti as early as 8 a.m., and that some of the images had already been covered up by 2 p.m.
Confederate flags were also placed along 11th and Washington streets in Columbus.
Major national, investigative media such as propublica.org have called Patriot Front “the most active white supremacist group in the nation.”
Patriot Front formed in the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
