Racist graffiti scrawled on resident’s fence in historically Black N.J. town

Authorities in Camden County are investigating racist graffiti left on a resident’s fence last week in a historically Black town, officials said.
The graffiti was scribbled along two sides of the corner of a white vinyl fence, pictures shared with NJ Advance Media show. The graffiti included the n-word and what appeared to be a vulgar drawing.
Lawnside Mayor Mary Ann Wardlow denounced the vandalism in a statement Wednesday and said that nighttime patrols by Lawnside police officers would be increased.
“The discovery of a racial slur spray-painted on a resident’s property in the borough of Lawnside – or anywhere, for that matter – represents a deeply troubling act of hate and is totally unacceptable,” Wardlow said. “We denounce this hate, and will apply all legal measures to address this incident.”
The graffiti appeared along a visible section of Lawnside along Evesham Road bordering Magnolia and Somerdale in Camden County. About 100 feet of cleared land separated the graffiti from a busy intersection. Across the street is a busy shopping center and newer townhomes.
Dawn Hines, 53, said a neighbor called her at about 1 p.m. on Nov. 7 to tell her that someone had written a racist message on the exterior of her fence.
“I‘ve lived here for just over 20 years and I’ve never even heard of something like this happening in Lawnside, let alone to me,” she said Tuesday on a phone call. “It’s a surprise to the community.”
She said that the graffiti was not there on Nov. 5 and couldn‘t conclusively say it wasn’t there the next night. She assumed that the marking must have happened sometime between Wednesday night, Nov. 6, and early the next morning.
It has since been removed, and only a faint sign of any vandalism could be identified along the fence Tuesday.
The Camden County Prosecutor‘s Office and Lawnside Police Department are investigating the graffiti as a hate crime, Hines said. Investigators from the prosecutor‘s office were at Hines’ home on Monday looking into the incident, she said.
Officials from the Lawnside Police Department and Camden County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately return requests for comment on the incident.
Lawnside Department of Public Works employees immediately began clearing the graffiti off the fence, Hines said. A friend spray painted over what could not be erased or cleaned off, and a local fence company offered to replace the white vinyl panels for free, she added.
Lawnside is a historically Black community that was formerly known as Snow Hill and Free Haven, according to the New Jersey League of Municipalities. The Peter Mott House in Lawnside became an important stop on the Underground Railroad and has been preserved as a museum by the Lawnside Historical Society.
The Peter Mott House is also listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, according to the Lawnside Historical Society.
Today, Lawnside’s population of about 3,000 residents is about 77% Black.
“Racial slurs are not just words; they carry a legacy of violence, discrimination and historical injustice,” Mayor Wardlow said. “By spraying hate-filled messages, the individual or group responsible is not just targeting one person but sending a broader message that aims to divide the community. When left unchallenged, these acts can escalate, leading to more significant social rifts.”
Hines said she that she believed the vandals chose her fence because of the visibility along a busy road, but also felt it wasn’t a coincidence that the racist message appeared in a historically Black community days after a heated presidential election.
The graffiti appeared two days after a historic presidential election where Republican candidate and former President Donald J. Trump defeated Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th President. But even though Harris won New Jersey in last Tuesday’s election, Trump lost the state by only five percentage points, the closest presidential race in the Garden State since 1992, according to election results.
“Lawnside is a beautiful town with a deep connection to the African American community, as it was the first independent, self-governing African American municipality north of the Mason–Dixon Line,” Camden County Commissioners Jonathan Young Sr. and Al Dyer said in a statement Tuesday. “And to see such a blatant attack on our Camden County community is frightening and appalling to say the least.”
Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1st Dist., also responded to news of the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating he was glad to see the incident being investigated as a hate crime.
“Racism must be called out when we see it, especially when it happens in our own community,” Norcross said in the social media post. “I’m glad the police are investigating this act of vandalism as a hate crime. Hate has no place here.”
In a post on X, the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia condemned the vandalism as “despicable” and an incident that “only seeks to intimidate.
“In the face of this incident, we applaud the people of Lawnside coming together to stand as neighbors,” the post said.
A representative from the Camden County East chapter of the NAACP did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow Matt on X.