Albany PD Make Arrest for BLM Hate Crime

I'd like to say "Thank You" to the Albany Police for quickly getting the man responsible for spraypainting the letters "KKK" and other vile things over the yellow-painted Black Lives Matter mural on Lark Street on Thursday.

Photo: Albany Police Department Facebook

I realize that hate exists everywhere, but this is pretty disturbing.

Perhaps it's because I live relatively close to where it happened, but even from afar, it makes me pretty sick to my stomach.

And while it's quite disturbing that this happened to a BLM mural, the feeling (for me anyway) would be just as strong if he spraypainted the side of a church, or Bombers, or a coffee shop.

On Thursday night, Albany Police say they arrested 43-year-old Ian Rawlinson after they caught up to him on Madison Avenue near Lark Street and all of this happened in broad daylight according to the APD.

"At approximately 3:40 p.m., Albany police officers responded to the Black Lives Matter mural on Lark Street between Hudson Avenue and Lancaster Street for reports of a man vandalizing the mural with graffiti. Upon arrival, officers learned that a man had used white spray paint to write the letters “KKK” and draw burning crosses on the mural."

Photo: Albany Police Department Facebook

What's the punishment for something like this?

Community service and sensitivity training are a must, but how about making him get on his hands and knees and scrub the streets? The streets could always use a nice cleanse, and so does he.

And not just the part of the BLM mural he defaced, I mean all of Center Square. Lark Street, around Washington Park, Madison Avenue, all of it.

Well, you say, "what if he gets hit by a car?"

I live in the city, and there are so many road closures, Rawlinson could do this and hardly even interfere with the flow of traffic.

Sure, he'll probably endure some shame and embarrassment, and undoubtedly people will shout things at him and call him names, but why should anyone besides the person responsible be forced to clean up his hate-filled KKK ignorance?

Make Albany's trash clean up Albany's trash!

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