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ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says five teenagers have been charged with spray-painting racist graffiti on a 19th century schoolhouse that once served black children in northern Virginia.
The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/2eeFEEx ) reported Friday that the four 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old were charged this week with felony destruction of property, among other offenses, after a review by prosecutors found the case does not qualify as a hate crime.
The graffiti included swastikas and references to "white power."
Students at the nearby Loudoun School for the Gifted have been working to restore the former Ashburn Colored School so that the one-room schoolhouse can be opened to the public as a museum. It served African-Americans banned in 1892 from attending school with white people, and remained open until the late 1950s.
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