Vinny Lombardo writes: "In this photo-essay, I've got alot more questions, than answers. "Jews Are Poison." "Jews Caus Wars." "Jews Spread Porn." These are the messages I've scene angrily scrawled on many benches along Pacific Ave. In my mind, I tried to simply laugh at the idiocy of whoever did this. I mean, this person couldn't even spell the word, 'cause,' so how could I take their 'cause' seriously? But I couldn't shake the feeling that it might be something more. Has there been other such hateful messages tagged around Santa Cruz? What about vandalism at local synagogues? These were the questions swirling through my mind as I raced home to find answers." Read More and View Photos

josh sonnenfeld comments: "Santa Cruz's 'progressive' image is relatively new (since the University came and changed things), and it has always been spotty. Ever since Spanish colonization, Santa Cruz has been unsafe for people of color and it very much continues to this day, 'progressive' image or not. The local indigenous were enslaved under the Spaniards, the mestizos were lynched under Duncan McPherson's reign at the Santa Cruz Sentinel in the late 1800s, local Chinese were assaulted and had their homes burned down by the local (and statewide) anti-Chinese movement of the early 1900s, mid-century black folks, who had built a community after WWII found themselves frequently harassed, such as the minister who was moving to the East Side from San Francisco who had his home burned down by a group of white vigilante neighbors who didn't want their neighborhood desegregated." Read More