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Racist Sidewalk Messages Raise Tensions in a Small Kansas College Town

Kansas City Star

Earlier this month, racist messages were written on the sidewalks of a college in a small Kansas town, reports The Kansas City Star.

The messages were aimed at the president of Bethany College in Lindsborg, and mark the latest episode in a number of racially charged flare-ups nationwide. One of the messages read simply, “Make Lindsborg white again,” in an echo of Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” In addition to the racially offensive messages, there were also statements expressing support for Donald Trump for president.

While the president of the Lutheran liberal arts college in the small Kansas town is white, he and his wife have two biracial adopted children. In a Facebook post, William Jones, the college president, said he had been contacted by a person claiming responsibility for the chalk graffiti. The self-proclaimed perpetrator said the messages were written in response to the make-up of Jones’s family, and in response to the students of color that Bethany College is recruiting.