Yun Fuentes, best-known as the executive chef at the Puerto Rican restaurant Bolo in Rittenhouse Square, saw the best Philadelphia has to offer after waking up to his home vandalized with red paint Wednesday.
Neighbors attempted to buy the family dinner, strangers shared words of encouragement, and many offered to help clean up his home’s facade.
Fuentes said that despite it being “just a bucket of paint,” being a subject of such vandalism spurred an onslaught of emotions. The family didn’t know if it was random or targeted. A white banner that read “D&Z” outlined with a black and red circle was left behind. One of his young children, elementary school-aged, worried it might have been because of an LGBT flag the family had on display.
With no other homes vandalized in their South Philly neighborhood, Fuentes took to social media. Thanks to camera footage provided by neighbors, he knew an individual splattered red latex paint on his rowhome around 2:15 a.m. But the motive continued to confound the family.
“This is a Puerto Rican family home, I’m a chef and my wife is an art teacher,” he wrote on Facebook, where his previous post was about what a privilege it is to live in Philly. “Why we were targeted is beyond my comprehension.”
That’s where a new wave of support came pouring in. People offered emotional support and possible clues to a motive.
The banner resembles the color scheme and circular logo of Day & Zimmerman, a Philadelphia-based security and defense company. Pro-Palestinian activists have singled out the company for manufacturing ammunition in Texas that has been transferred to Israel during its war with Hamas. A team commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council determined Israel is responsible for a genocide in Gaza, while the Gaza Health Ministry reports the country is responsible for more than 67,000 deaths and another 170,000 people injured.
One of the most consistent pro-Palestinian demonstrations locally has been a “Tuesdays at D&Z” protest, attended by various local groups, including the Philly Palestine Coalition, demanding the company leave the city.
Fuentes’ wife has the same name as a Day & Zimmermann senior human resources employee.
Day & Zimmermann did not respond to requests for comment. A member of the Philly Palestine Coalition declined to comment.
The day Fuentes’ house was vandalized, Israel and Hamas agreed to the outlines of a ceasefire deal.
Though neither police nor the company have confirmed the prevailing theory that the vandalism was aimed at Day & Zimmermann employee, Fuentes and his family are taking comfort in the fact that it seems they were not the targets. They were most worried about having enraged someone so much that there would be escalating attacks.
In a call with The Inquirer, Fuentes went from being grateful for the support he received to lamenting the current state of politics. He envisioned a scenario where the individual would have knocked on his door and would have been invited in for coffee, only to learn they were at the wrong house. Instead, said Fuentes, his home was used as a “bulletin board for their rage.”
“We’re in a world where we just shout out things into a void and we’re not listening,” he said. “I’m seeing someone put this stuff on my wall, but I can’t talk to them. I can’t tell them that’s not me, that’s not my wife.”
The situation inspired a deep sadness in Fuentes, who talked through choked-back tears, and mulled over other questions of politics, belonging, and the hope he had, though unlikely, that the culprit would come forward and talk to him about the message he was trying to convey while helping with the cleanup. He reiterated that he didn’t want the person responsible to get in trouble.
Still, Fuentes, who came to Philly around 2009, tried to buoy his spirits by focusing on how people across the city propelled his culinary career and inspired his menu, and helped his family get through a bad day.
“I’m so happy that my life brought me to Philadelphia,” he said, as a neighbor walked by, offering to buy his family a pizza dinner.