Erasing hate: Mother cleans up racist graffiti spray-painted near Rocklin Elementary School

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    ROCKLIN, CA (KOVR) — After racial slurs were found on the sidewalk near Rock Creek Elementary School Monday, one mother took it upon herself to clean it up.

“I just walked over and was completely sobbing. I just couldn’t have any element of composure,” Adrien Pocklington said.

Tears flowed after seeing hateful words sprayed across a sidewalk. Vandals wrote, “white power” “f— BLM” and the n-word on the ground.

“Tons of students walk that path to get to school, including my daughters, and at recess, it’s front and center,” she said.

Pocklington’s family includes 13 and 14-year-old sons, both of whom are minorities, and both run at this popular path near Rock Creek Elementary School every day. Instantly, she knew there was no way she could let her boys see the graffiti.

“That was my first thought. I have to get it off. I have to get it off the sidewalk before they go run in the morning,” Pocklington said.

After reaching out to the school, city, and police, a solvent was poured over the graffiti, but Pocklington maintains it only made the paint more prominent.

“Put a tarp over it. Why didn’t you go throw something over these words so the kids coming and going that day didn’t have to witness them? They stood for a full 48 hours,” she said.

So, she appealed to parents on the Nextdoor app to grab soap, sponges, whatever they could to help her remove it. Six people showed up, scraping and scrubbing for nearly two hours.

“These were words of hate that were meant to tear people apart and tear people down and we removed them together,” Pocklington said.

In a statement, Rocklin Unified School District said, “The entire RUSD community condemns any form of hate speech… we applaud the group of parents who came together to minimize additional exposure to our children and community.”

It was a mission to erase hate and deliver hope by creating more dialogue and growth.

“It happens but it’s not welcome. It has happened and we’re going to change it,” Pocklington said.

Pocklington says she forgives whoever is responsible for the hateful messages. She’s organized a group to meet this Saturday at 11 a.m. to cover that same sidewalk with words of hope.

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