Encouraging words greeted students at Roxborough HS after racist, antisemitic graffiti found
By 6abc Digital Staff and Cheyenne Corin
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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Students returning to Roxborough High School were met with messages of love and inclusion instead of hate after racist and antisemitic graffiti was discovered on the building over the weekend.
Community members gathered to condemn the vandalism, which included swastikas, and to support students following the incident.
David Matthews of Mount Airy said such acts should not still be happening.
“Here we are now, 2026, and we’re still experiencing these things. Students shouldn’t have to go through this,” Matthews said.
In response to the discovery, Principal Kristin Williams-Smalley invited families and community members to write messages of encouragement, belonging and unity on the sidewalks outside the school to welcome students back.
“Yesterday was a day especially coming back off of a break, but instantly energized when I see their faces,” Williams-Smalley said.
She said the goal was to make clear that hate would not define the school community.
“Love wins every single time, and we are here to show everyone, particularly our cubs, which is what we call our students, that we are here and we’re going to show up every time for them and hate has no place here,” Williams-Smalley said.
Alumna Sarai Nathaniel, who is now a teacher at a nearby school, stopped by to write messages of her own and said the incident became a teachable moment in her classroom.
“I actually took the opportunity to teach my kids about hate speech and things of that nature and how it can be so close to home,” Nathaniel said.
Although the graffiti was removed quickly, Matthews said the impact can linger, drawing on his own experiences growing up.
“Coming up in the 70s in my high school and 80s, I experienced stuff like this. I was in the segregated bus program where I faced these types of statements on a regular basis,” he said.
Both Matthews and Nathaniel said the community response is what helps create change.
“That doesn’t overtake the love that we have its more of us than its more than them,” Matthews said.
“We just gotta show more love, and once we show more love, we’ll eliminate the hate,” Nathaniel said.
The district’s office of school safety and Philadelphia police are investigating the incident. So far, no suspects have been identified.
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