The library is working with the Tacoma Police Department in the investigation to determine if the graffiti constitutes a hate crime.

Dionne Bonner, a local artist, created the mural in partnership with the City of Tacoma’s Arts & Cultural Vitality division. With her assistant Brian Neal Sr, she completed the mural in April 2024, according to Tacoma Public Library’s spokesperson Mariesa Bus.

TACOMA, Wash. — A Tacoma library mural, which reflects the diversity in the community, was vandalized with hate speech. A neighborhood library, located in the heart of South Tacoma, near South 56th Street and South Puget Sound Avenue, is known for its new vibrant mural.

A branch of the Tacoma Public Library was vandalized this week with racist messages and white supremacist imagery. Racist graffiti was painted on the South Tacoma Branch, including on a mural on one side of the building that depicted Black people reading books.