A vandal wrote racial slurs, homophobic language and offensive symbols all over the playground at Sam Poerio Park in Kenosha over the weekend. Kelly Adam took matters into her own hands by scrubbing away the graffiti.
"It's hate speech... Horrible things that would be offensive to anybody," said Kelly Adam.
Adam's husband spotted the hateful words first and sent his wife pictures. That's when the mom of three grabbed her cleaning supplies.
"No kid should have to see that and say mommy what does this mean," said Adam.
A neighbor is thankful her great-grandson didn't see the hurtful words.
"It's just so senseless... I wouldn't want him seeing that," said Judy Dunham.
"Children definitely don't need to see the offensive language," another neighbor, Bill Boyd, said.
Adam says she didn't want any more kids to see the offensive language.
"It's painful for me to see it so I could just imagine a child seeing that whether they knew what it meant or not," said Adam.
She used the hate as a teachable moment for her kids.
"If you see something wrong and you can do something about it take action, don't wait," said Adam.
Kenosha Police said a juvenile admitted to writing an Instagram name on the playground, but denied writing anything else. The Parks Director issued a verbal warning. Police said there have been two other similar incidents over the past year - one was just last week.
