Children were playing on the oval at Hunters Point South Park when antisemitic and racist graffiti were discovered on the turf surface and removed on Monday morning. Images have been blurred from original photos from Hunters Point South Waterfront News
April 29, 2025 By Bill Parry
By the time Long Island City civic leaders discovered racist and antisemitic graffiti scrawled across the oval at Hunters Point South Park on Monday morning, neighborhood children were already playing on the turf.
A park worker quickly removed the graffiti, and now police from the 108th Precinct are searching for the culprits who vandalized the waterfront park sometime on Sunday night.
“Hunters Point Parks Conservancy condemns the racist and antisemitic graffiti that was added to Hunters Point South Park’s oval overnight,” HPPC said in a statement on Monday. “We elevated it to the NYC Parks management team so they are aware. If you have any information about the perpetrators, please report it to the 108.”
HPPC President Rob Basch said he became aware of the graffiti around 10 a.m. and went directly to the park.
“Kids were running around the oval when I saw the graffiti,” Basch told Queens Post. “I found a park employee, and she got some water and a sponge and wiped it away.”
Hunters Point Civic Association President James Edstrom praised Basch for acting quickly to remove the graffiti before more families arrived at the popular play area. He added that the waterfront community was deeply disturbed by the hateful incident.
“Everyone is up in arms,” Edstrom said. “We are very lucky to have Rob Basch.”
NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner Jackie Langsam denounced the offensive graffiti.
“Hate has no place in our parks,” Langsam said. “When offensive hate speech is discovered, we work with NYPD to remove it immediately. I’m grateful for the swift response by Parks staff on Monday to respond and remove the graffiti.”
Council Member Julie Won also condemned the incident.
“We do not tolerate racist or antisemitic hate speech,” she wrote on social media Monday. “My office is working with NYC Parks to remove graffiti drawn at the Hunters Point South Park oval last night. Any graffiti promoting racial or religious discrimination should be reported to my office at (718) 383-9566 or district26@nyc.gov. We will work with our partners to remove it immediately.”
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through April 27, the 108th Precinct has reported one hate crime so far in 2025, four fewer than the five reported at the same point last year, a decline of 80%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
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