'Hate has no home here:' Volunteers paint over Nazi symbols, gang graffiti in Metro East neighborhood

Sept. 23--ST. CLAIR COUNTY --Swastikas, gang signs and racial slurs against Hispanics that had been spray-painted on a vacant building in Metro East for years were covered with a very different message Saturday: "Hate has no home here," written in both English and Spanish.

The building at 2890 Black Lane in State Park Place, an unincorporated community in St. Clair County, has been vacant for some 20 years. It became an eyesore covered with gang messages, Nazi symbols and the word TRUMP in big letters, the Post-Dispatch first reported Wednesday.

But on Saturday, some 50 people came to a volunteer event, organized by a progressive nonprofit group, Indivisible Metro East, to paint over the hateful messages.

The volunteers painted the building a bright coral color and covered the new design with a graffiti-resistant sealant.

"In my opinion this is a more accurate representation of State Park than what was here before," said Kory Kimbrell, the pastor of nearby Remedy Church. "Those messages were the opinions of the few. This I believe is how most of the people here really feel."

Kimbrell said he had been hoping to cover the vulgar graffiti, located on a main road in State Park, for years. He and a group of volunteers from the church wore T-shirts Saturday reading: "We love State Park."

Many neighbors stopped to admire or take pictures of the new paint, including Melinda Parker, who said her father worked on the construction team that built the building the 1950s. It was originally the Oasis Supper Club but has been vacant for some 20 years.

"I could cry looking at this right now," Parker said when she walked by. "I'm so happy they did this. It looks amazing."

She had been driving by the graffiti every day for years.

Event organizer Jessica Motsinger said Indivisible Metro East is hoping to find more buildings and community projects to continue to help the area.

"I feel better about people after today," she said. "You never know if people will actually show up when they say they will on Facebook, but we had volunteers out here working for hours just because they wanted to help."

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