Early on Monday, pro-Palestinian language was spray painted over the legal office of a Jewish regent of the University of Michigan in Southfield, Michigan. The business is labelling this act of vandalism as an antisemitic incident.
As a partner at Goodman Acker and a regent for the University of Michigan, Jordan Acker described the incident as “an incredibly trying time for me and this whole community.” A state representative chosen to a board that manages the administration of the institution is known as a regent.
Acker claims he was targeted in two separate incidents in the last few weeks.
Pictures from the firm revealed that the law office was vandalized with slogans such as “divest now” and “free Palestine,” both on the building and the pavement in front of it. “F**k you Acker” appears to be the message sent to the lawyer.
Chief of Police Elvin Barren described the vandalism as “horrific” during a press conference on Monday and stated that the Southfield Police Department is looking into the incident as a hate crime. According to Barren, the inquiry is being assisted by the FBI, Huntington Woods police, and University of Michigan police.
“Make no mistake that targeting individual Jewish elected officials is antisemitism,” Acker said at the news conference. “This has nothing to do with Palestine, or the war in Gaza, or anything else. This is done as a message to scare Jews.”
In an earlier episode, Acker revealed on X that his three girls were asleep when a masked assailant knocked on his door at 4:30 in the morning on May 15. Saying he would not be intimidated, he deemed such an incident “unacceptable.”
Founding partner of the company Barry Goodman stated that the incident on Monday “was not an attack on our office but an attack on our values and our mission.”
Goodman continued by saying that Muslims and Christians also own shares in the company in addition to Jews.
“We proudly serve all faiths, all races, and have been doing so for over 30 years,” Goodman said. “This is ridiculous; this is a crime.”
Goodman said protesters are free to walk the sidewalk, hold signs, make statements, “everything that the Constitution allows, but they can’t do this.”
During the press conference, Barren stated that Southfield police detectives had discovered, after a preliminary inquiry, that four individuals had been seen on surveillance footage outside the law office on Monday at 1:39 a.m.
According to Barren, the people were at the workplace for almost seven minutes. For access to the security footage, CNN has contacted the police.
In a statement to CNN, Santa J. Ono, the president of the University of Michigan, described the act as “unacceptable.”
“The vandalism that occurred at Regent Jordan Acker’s place of business is shocking and unacceptable. Singling out this dedicated public servant and defacing his workplace in the middle of the night is an act of antisemitic cowardice that Southfield police have indicated is being investigated as a hate crime. Such harassment and attempts to intimidate have no place in a civil society and certainly no place in our university community,” Ono said.
In a statement, Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the vandalism “abhorrent.”
“Violence, vandalism, threats, and intimidation are unacceptable, and what we saw today in Southfield is abhorrent,” Whitmer said. “We must remain united in calling out hatred of any kind and continue working together toward peace in Michigan.”
In the wake of the tragedy, Acker expressed his gratitude to people from all walks of life, saying he was “deeply grateful” for their support.
“I was not targeted here today because I am a regent. I am a target of this because I am Jewish.”
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