NORTHAMPTON — A mysterious white sheet of paper with a strange message gave Vernon Street residents a rude awakening Thursday morning.
The printed sheet of paper with words in large font read: “Please don’t murder us.”
It was taped over a multi-colored sign, commonly found in the Valley, with “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor” written in Spanish, English and Arabic.
The sheet of paper was not there the night before, Mehammed Mack said, so it must have been posted by someone overnight. Mack is an associate professor of French studies at Smith College who lives on Vernon Street. He discovered the strange sheet of paper on his sign Thursday morning.
“I told my neighbors about it and they were very supportive,” Mack said. “One of my neighbors brought out about 40 signs and a bunch of other people have put them up out of support.”
At that point, Mack still did not know that these papers were also posted on residents’ signs on Massasoit Street, Franklin Street, and Round Hill Road as well. Mack thought he could have been targeted by the anonymous poster due to his name or research topics at Smith, he said, since he teaches about immigration and Muslims in France.
Police were notified of the vandalism to residents’ property on Thursday at about 10:30 a.m. On Saturday, Northampton Police declined to comment on the story due the incident being under investigation.
As of Saturday afternoon, at least four signs were defaced by the printed sheets of paper, interviews with neighborhood residents confirmed.
The “Welcome Your Neighbors” sign originated from Harrisonburg, Virginia, at Immanuel Mennonite Church. In August 2015, pastor Matthew Bucher wanted to share a message of inclusiveness and used those three languages because they were prominent in the church’s neighborhood.
“This was designed to create a sense of welcome in the community … this is totally non-threatening,” Mack said about the multi-colored sign on his front lawn. He said the signs became more prominent last year when President Donald Trump signed executive orders for a travel ban that targeted Muslim-majority nations as well as increasing security at the country’s southern border.
Mack’s neighbors across the street, Barton Byg and Jan Whitaker, found the sheets of paper “disturbing” and put up the same multi-colored sign on their front yard in a show of solidarity.
“It’s part of the climate,” Byg said. “It’s part of the culture wars that’s out there. There are tips on how to intimidate, alienate, and prank people in ways that they can get away with it anonymously. It’s like trolling.”
“It’s good if people know what’s going on,” Whitaker said. “It’s important and maybe it could even identify who did it.”
Over on Massasoit Street, Jane Cross also found her sign defaced on Thursday morning as she left for work.
“It’s a crazy country right now,” Cross said. “It’s sad that it’s here.”
Her husband, former Ward 2 City Councilor Paul Spector, said it would have been a little scarier if Mack were the only person whose sign was defaced.
“It really is a sign that appeared since Trump has been raising issues around immigration and not trusting your neighbors,” Spector said. “So the sign is clearly saying ‘We are welcoming you.’ This is a statement that is running against the current right-wing environment.”
Spector said when driving around the neighborhood and walking his dog, he has counted around 15 signs on nearby neighbors’ lawns. He wondered why just a few houses were chosen by the perpetrator. When reaching out to neighbors, he was only able to find a total of four signs vandalized.
“I would hope that everyone would put up a loving sign that says we welcome everyone to our neighborhood,” Spector said. “We are not going to discriminate based on color, race, gender, immigration status.”
He added, “Of course there is going to be that one person with kooky ideas who can do this and I don’t want it to taint our view of the whole area because of this. The response, being a positive one, is let’s fly our flag of welcome a little higher. And if you do it again, even more people will fly the same flag.”
The response by the neighborhood has only reinforced Mack’s feeling of being welcomed in his neighborhood, he said.
“My faith is restored through my neighbors and I feel even more welcome here because of the reaction of my neighbors,” Mack said.