Local News
Security footage shows three separate incidents over the weekend that caused more than $500 in damage to a Pride display outside the store.
Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston Globe
A South Boston business owner is speaking out after a Pride sign outside his store was vandalized three times over Pride weekend.
On Monday, Micro Plant Studio, a Latinx-owned plant shop on West Broadway, shared surveillance footage showing the separate incidents, which the owner says caused over $500 in damage.
The first incident shows a man doubling back to kick the sign that reads, “First Latinx Plant Store in New England: Southie Pride.”
A later video shows another group passing by, stopping to film themselves messing with the sign. Another person then walked by and knocked over the damaged sign.
“Is this the society we want to be a part of?” wrote owner Julio Cesar Roman. “Hate easily spreads like wildfire. But hate will never win in my heart.”
The very last video, from early Sunday morning, shows two men stopping to stand the sign back up and attempt to put it back together.
“We need to be more like those last two guys who lifted that sign off the ground with pride,” Roman wrote.
He continued, “I can replace a broken sign, but I cannot change a hateful heart,” Roman wrote. “Only a community can do that by looking out for one another.”
Roman said that he called the police to report the incident. He understands the police can only do so much and asks the public to contact the police if they recognize anyone in the videos.
He would also love to personally thank the two men who picked the sign back up.
“To the Southie community that has stood by us for 8 years, watching me fail and succeed: thank you for continuing to choose love,” Roman wrote. “Let’s keep looking out for each other.”
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
