Last week this SLO bridge said 'Cal Poly racist hicks.' This week it had swastikas

Just a few days after it was tagged "Cal Poly racist hicks," the Union Pacific Railroad bridge over Monterey Street was scrawled with swastikas and the phrase "Cal Poly liberal pu--ies."

Mama Ganache chocolate shop owner Eve Neuhaus said she noticed the graffiti when she arrived at work on Sunday morning.

"It was terrifying," said Neuhaus, whose parents were World War II refugees. "It’s so blatant. And so like what my parents went through."

The graffiti has since been painted over.

Neuhaus snapped a picture of the bridge and shared it on Facebook, where many expressed their shock and outrage at seeing the Nazi imagery in San Luis Obispo.

"I shared it because it was so close to home, both physically and emotionally," she said.

Some did compare the new graffiti with the "Cal Poly racist hicks" message painted on the same bridge last week, Neuhaus said, but for her, the addition of the swastikas was a more worrisome threat.

"The swastika is a death threat," she said. "'Racist hicks' is just nasty."

Neuhaus said she felt the latest message was tied to the outrage and protests over photos showing a Lambdi Chi Alpha fraternity member wearing blackface at a party where others were dressed as gang member stereotypes.

In response to the upset, and reports of additional racist behavior from other fraternity members, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong suspended all Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Greek organizations indefinitely.

Meanwhile, racist fliers and graffiti were found on campus, which Armstrong labeled "the desperate work of a few who would seek to spread hate and divide us at a vulnerable time."

This story was originally published April 23, 2018 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Last week this SLO bridge said 'Cal Poly racist hicks.' This week it had swastikas."