People usually leave Bobbi Smith’s hair salon in Highland Square looking and feeling a little better.
But the message Smith found on the glass door leading inside A Beautiful You Hair Salon was anything but pretty to the business owner.
Someone scrawled a 2-inch swastika in black marker at eye level onto the door. It appeared sometime after she closed her shop Monday night inside the Highland Square Apartments complex at 733 W. Market St.
When she returned about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Nazi symbol of white supremacy was there. Akron police are investigating the graffiti as a hate crime. The department’s gang unit is leading the investigation.
“We take all these serious. I can understand how Mrs. Smith feels,” police Lt. Rick Edwards said. “We take all of these types of offenses serious and we’re certainly going to take this incident serious.”
Smith, who is black, has operated the shop for 13 years, catering to all races. She said she cried when she saw the symbol.
“I’m very offended,” she said. “It’s also sad. As long as I’ve been here, I’ve felt safe. I’ve heard stories from my ancestors, but I never thought in 2011 I would see something like this. I cried, actually.”
The management company that runs the complex, which includes residential as well as business owners, sent a note to tenants Tuesday alerting them of the marking and denouncing its message.
“ ... we do NOT tolerate this behavior,” the note read, in part.
Akron police detectives do not have any suspects.
Smith, a mother of two and whose husband works for the city, said she doesn’t know anyone who might want to hurt her or her business. She said she had never experienced any problems since opening the salon.
“This is my livelihood,” said Smith, 47. “I want to feel safe. I want my clients to feel safe. I think that’s what hurts me so much is that I don’t know why.”
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.