‘We’re not going to stand for this!’ Native American murals damaged by graffiti

SEATTLE -- A despicable act of vandalism at the old Wilson-Pacific school left Native American murals covered with graffiti.

The man who painted the murals, Andrew Morrison, said whoever is responsible should turn themselves in to police.

“There’s no gray area within me seeing what happened,” he said. “It’s a pure hate crime, it’s rooted in pure vindictive behavior.”

Some time over the weekend vandals sprayed white paint over several of Morrison’s murals – and he believes the tagger left enough clues behind for police to catch them.

“These murals are innocent,” he said. “Instead of them being celebrated we had an entity, an energy of wickedness, that is trying to kill them.”

Morrison said the paint that vandals used is latex based, and removing it shouldn’t be too difficult. He also believes the tagger painted his moniker over the murals.

“To my understanding DAP stands for ‘down around pike,’ a graffiti crew here in Seattle,” said Morrison. “And KILO means Kilo, you know, the writer, the crew.

“They signed their own name, you know, that’s the level of ignorance that’s rooted in this hate act,” he added.

Still, why anyone would bother to destroy a tribute to Morrison’s people escapes his reason.

“You have a price to pay with the Duwamish, with the Suquamish, with the Nez Perce, with the Apache people, the spirit of Geronimo, with the spirit of Sitting Bull … with the people that have sacrificed on the Trail of Tears,” he said.

Seattle police graffiti detectives are investigating the case.

Morrison said crews are scheduled to begin removing the graffiti Wednesday morning.