Bernie Sanders mural defaced in DC; police investigating as hate crime

A mural of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was defaced near Navy Yard in Southeast D.C., and it’s being investigated as a hate crime, police said.

Between Dec. 15 and Jan. 14, police say someone painted an image of Pepe the Frog on the Sanders mural on a concrete wall under the Interstate 395 overpass in the 100 Block of H Street SE.

The Pepe the Frog meme, which started as an innocuous cartoon online, has been repurposed by white nationalists and anti-Semites.

The Anti-Defamation League declared the frog a hate symbol five years ago.

The mural has since been fixed.

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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