MANSFIELD - The bitter cold of an early December late afternoon didn't deter at least 30 residents from a trek to the intersection of Shawmut and Columbus avenues to write warm messages of love on the street where a vicious racial slur was left last week.
Most of the group, that included young and old, black and white, walked to the site which is near the home of a neighbor who was apparently targeted by the writer of the epithet.
It was erased shortly after it was discovered last Sunday.
But erasing it wasn't good enough for the neighbors.
They wanted their message to be sent loud and clear.
Hate speech won't be tolerated here, not now, not ever.
"I want to show Mansfield is no place for hate," said Jane Black who came to the demonstration with her husband Gene who nodded in agreement.
Mansfield is not a racist town, another said.
"I just feel the people of Mansfield need to know everyone is welcome here," Leeann Dobro said.
One of the organizers, Ryan Trost, said those who use derogatory language about others are in the minority.
"We wanted to show support for a neighbor who feels targeted," he said. "We wanted to show that there are more of us than there is of those of the other stripe."
His son Caleb, 12, said he wanted to show he cares.
"It's really horrible stuff," he said of the graffiti.
Residents used colored chalk to write uplifting messages on the street.
One was, "You are loved."
Another, in the middle of a 10-foot wide peace sign said simply "imagine," an apparent reference to John Lennon's song of the same name which said, among other things, "imagine all the people living life in peace."
Others were aimed at President-elect Donald Trump, whom some people blame for an uptick in hate speech throughout the nation.
Those included the phrases, "Love Trumps Hate" and "Make America Kind Again," a take off of Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."
