Minorities nationwide are concerned after two incidents occurred within a span of ten days.

The latest incident took place at the Bothell Hindu Temple, as someone spray painted “GET OUT” and a Swastika on a wall in red paint. It was also discovered on Feb. 15. Skyview Junior High was also tagged with “muslims get out,” with a Swastika.

The message is not only one of hate but of ignorance, as the Swastika has been a symbol of peace from the Hindu religion far before it was used by Nazis and turned into a symbol of intolerance.

The incident comes a little more than a week after the assault of a Hindu grandfather by police in Madison, Alabama on Feb. 6 resulting in partial paralysis.

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident at the temple. Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact police.

“A temple member showed the deputy where a swastika and the words “GET OUT” had been painted on the outside temple wall,” said Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Shari L. Ireton. “There are no identified suspects in this crime at this time, although the incident is under investigation.”

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed said that visitors were “most welcome” in Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in Bothell. The temple’s mission is to “Promote social, cultural, religious, and spiritual understanding,” according to Zed.

It was sad that such graffiti showed up on its wall a day before the temple was scheduled to celebrate the major Hindu festival of Maha-Sivaratri, he continued. Efforts to build this temple reportedly began in 1980’s.

Zed said in a statement that it was shocking for the hard-working, harmonious and peaceful Hindu community, who had made lot of contributions to the nation and society, to receive such signals of hatred and anger.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that per a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey, as compared to any other religious group in US; Hindus topped in education, had second highest income levels, topped in marriage rates and had lowest divorce rates. Per another Pew Forum survey, USA was the world’s second-leading destination for Hindu migrants, after India. There were about three million Hindus in USA.

Rajan Zed noted that this was basically because of Hindus continuing with the traditional values of hard work, higher morals, stress on education, sanctity of marriage, etc., in USA amidst so many distractions.

Zed suggested that basics of major world religions should be taught in high schools of the country and first responders should be imparted cultural competency training so that we understand each other better in view of increasing diversity of the country. Zed urged fellow Hindus to educate Americans about Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents, and try to remove any misconceptions about it.