‘Coward(s)’ spray paint racial slur on Jacksonville Police Athletic League bus

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Police Athletic League said a racial slur was spray-painted on one of their buses at their Monument Road location.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is working to figure out who targeted this group dedicated to local kids.

JaxPAL said three out of every four students this location serves are African-American.

In a social media post, a JSO Assistant Chief wrote, “Some coward(s) spray painted one of our JaxPAL buses with this HATE!”

“It’s almost 2020, and unfortunately we still have these things that happen,” said Mary Bishop, JaxPAL’s Executive Director.

Bishop said the vandalism was discovered Thursday evening.

“After basketball practice, they were locking up the building and then when the coordinators went outside to leave, they noticed that the bus had been vandalized with some graffiti,” Bishop said.

Friday, the bus was scrubbed clean and parked in its normal spot. JaxPAL said it’s currently out of service.

“We weren’t going to let it sit,” Bishop said. “We didn’t want our kids to see that.”

It’s winter break for students now, but JaxPAL provides after-school services and sports to students.

“We try to bridge the relationship between the police officers and the students by providing after-school programming and athletic opportunities, sports,” Bishop said.

JaxPAL said this won’t stop their mission.

“I’m not giving it any power,” Bishop said. “The only power that it has is we took it down. That’s our power.”

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories

© 2019 Cox Media Group