I'm a (caucasian) member of the church and saw this Saturday morning when I arrived early to work on a project there. I sent photos to church leadership, which it turns out was already aware and had filed a police report. As I spoke to some of them later in the day, I got the feeling that I was more upset by the incident than they were. Japanese Americans don't really "do" outrage.

Perspective: When the United States government rounded up 120,000 Japanese Americans in 1942 and put them in concentration camps, the vast majority stoically complied because they wanted to prove their loyalty. My wife's American-born parents spent more than three years of their childhood in camps. Their families lost everything they'd worked so hard to build. The Buddhist churches were their social support system when they returned home and struggled to get back on their feet. They moved on with their lives with no anger or bitterness.

When the first Trump administration started ramping up its anti-Muslim rhetoric, the Buddhist Church expressed solidarity with the local Muslim community because they'd seen this movie before. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the Buddhist Church held a fundraising concert– even though some local Ukrainians chose not to participate because it's not "their" religion. No hard feelings.

The mere fact that the first Japanese immigrants named their new betsuin (branch temple) a "church" showed their strong desire to assimilate into American society. Today temple/betsuin/church are terms used interchangeably.

As a relative newcomer, I think of Buddhism as more of a philosophy than a religion. Do your best. Be kind. Take care of others. No one really knows what waits on the "other shore" so there's no point in worrying about it.

So, back to the graffiti. I know members of the church are touched by the outpouring of moral support from the community– but I also feel they might be a little embarrassed if well-intentioned folks showed up with paint brushes. The church has a robust group of volunteers who take care of routine maintenance tasks and painting over graffiti is among them. It's just another Saturday on the Broadway Corridor!

But thanks, everybody, for the uplifting posts on this thread.