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Mar 31, 2009 1:24 pm US/Central
Valparaiso Woman Target Of Racism At Work, Home
VALPARAISO, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ―
A black woman who twice this year found racially motivated vandalism at her northwest Indiana home now says she is being targeted at work.
The victim worked the 4:45 p.m. to midnight shift Friday at the Family Express store at 201 Silhavy Road in Valparaiso. During her shift and sometime after 9 p.m., according to a police report, the letters "KKK WP" were carved, probably with a key, into the wall across from the restroom.
The woman said the wall was undamaged at 9 p.m. when she went into the nearby cooler.
She believes the damage was done around 9:45 p.m. by a group of four teenagers -- two male and two female -- whom she believed were acting suspiciously while hanging out near the restrooms.
One of the male suspects attempted to buy a lighter, but became upset and put it back when she asked for his identification to make sure he was 18.
The only description the victim was able to give was that the two males were tall; one of the females was wearing a green-and-white school jacket, had hair in a ponytail and a tattoo near her cleavage; the other female was about 5-foot-2 and heavyset with shoulder-length dark blonde or light brown hair.
The incident follows recent reports of racial slurs and swastikas being painted on homes and vehicles.
In an incident at Valparaiso High School, a white student wrote a racial slur on a black student's locker.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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