Collins Hill combats divisive graffiti with community

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Unity instead of hate; that is the message that a Gwinnett County community wants to spread after someone spray painted graffiti all over the campus Tuesday morning.

The school district has opened an investigation into who left racist, homophobic and politically-charged messages on signs and mobile classrooms at Collins Hill High School.

"Honestly, I was kind of disappointed because we're in 2016 and I didn't think we'd have to go through this anymore," said Jasmin Cary, a freshman at Collins Hill. "I thought it was just ridiculous and just kind of disgusting to see that." 

The community quickly jumped into action in the hopes of changing the narrative from negative to positive.

Alisa Smith-McMahon, whose son Conner is a sophomore at Collins Hill, decided to get as many people as she could to show up at the school for a photo shoot Tuesday evening.  People made signs with hashtags like #EaglesUnite to show their support for the idea.

"I feel like the positive messages and the diversity and all of that is really the true power behind the community and that's really what everybody here believes," explained sophomore Kaleigh Hutto.

Smith-McMahon said she and others plan to hold an even larger unity event at the school in the coming weeks.

Gwinnett school officials plan to press charges if they can identify the vandals.