MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — The rainbow crosswalks at a Cooper-Young intersection were pressure washed quickly after a slur was written in large white letters Friday night.

Jarred Price, the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, said he initially worked to have the crosswalk painted in 2019 in honor of the LGBTQ community.

(Courtesy of Jarred Price)

Price said several volunteers came together Saturday morning after he found out about the incident.

“It’s unfortunate that someone would intentionally do that but I have a lot of faith in the city and knowing that volunteers were able to come out and clean it gives me hope,” a volunteer said.

WREG has reached out to Memphis Police to find out where they are in the investigation and if there was any description of the suspect’s vehicle. We are waiting to hear back.

Price posted a statement on Facebook below:

HATE ERASED! Not how I wanted to spend my Saturday morning, but it’s done! The Memphis’ Rainbow Crosswalk, the history-making first rainbow crosswalk in our state, was vandalized this early morning during Pride month. As the founder of this project, this breaks my heart for our LGBTQ+ community and the volunteers and donors who put so much time and effort into this project. But this small act of hate was trumped with the outpour of love today from all those who helped clean it up. Thank you, MPD for your help and investigation into this as well as to all those who helped clean this mess up. Thank you former Commissioner Tami Sawyer for stopping by to show some love and support as well.