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South Loop Family Hounded By Racist Graffiti

(CBS) -- A family living in the South Loop says they are repeatedly being targeted with racist graffiti.

The family's towering condo building is a beautiful addition to the South Loop skyline. But something very ugly has been going on inside, CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.

In the hallway outside one of the condo units, painters have been at work covering up the latest piece of racist graffiti left behind by somebody.

The first was discovered the morning of Mother's Day. It was the N-word, in paint, with an exclamation point.

Brandy Washington lives there with her husband and 16-year-old daughter.

"To come outside your unit and have this embarrassment and have your child see something like that is really hurtful, because now she's scared," she says.

In the days that followed, the girl's bicycle was attacked with paint. And somebody keyed the family car in the building garage. Most recently, in the hallway, there was a painted screed "no lawsuit," a dollar sign and another racial epithet.

The couple had recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against the property company.

Brandy says the family has found one friend in the building.

"One of my neighbors did send me flowers, you know, the day after Mother's Day," she says.

The note with the flowers read: "We are not all idiots."

Chicago police say they are investigating this as a hate crime as well as a case of property damage.

No arrests have been reported.

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