Police arrested a Bay Area woman who they say posted racist notes on the homes of Asian Americans, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore
by Haven Orecchio-Egresitz- A 52-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of posting handwritten messages targeting Asian Americans on their homes.
- The messages suggested that people not native to the US leave the country.
- Police in San Leandro received reports of notes containing “insensitive messages towards minorities” taped to five homes, according to the Associated Press.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A 52-year-old woman in the San Francisco Bay Area was arrested on suspicion of a hate crime after police learned she was posting hateful handwritten messages on the homes of Asian-Americans, according to a statement from San Leandro Police Department.
The messages suggested that men and women not native to the US leave the country immediately, according to the Associated Press, which saw a copy of one of the notes.
“If you are a woman or man and was born in other country, return, go back to your land immediately, fast, with urgency,” the note said, according to The AP. It ended with “One American, white, brave, that serves the Nation or USA is going to live here.”
Officers in San Leandro, a suburb of 89,000 just south of Oakland, were called to the Heron Bay neighborhood Friday night after receiving reports of notes containing “insensitive messages towards minorities” taped to five homes.
One resident gave the officers images captured on his Ring doorbell security camera of a woman taping the note, and the officers soon found her in the area, police said in a statement.
Nancy Arechiga, 52, was carrying a backpack containing copies of the same notes, the statement said.
She was arrested “for these inappropriate messages that instilled fear and intimidation upon those residents.”
“San Leandro is a community of beautifully diverse people, who share a common desire to live in harmony, and free from intimidation,” San Leandro Police Lieutenant Isaac Benabou said in a written statement. “We welcome people’s rights to express themselves, but not in a manner that infringes upon a community’s sense of security and wellbeing.”
Arechiga was taken to Alameda County jail and booked for investigation of committing a hate crime, according to the AP.
She was issued a citation and released from custody, another police official, Lt. Ted Henderson, told the AP.
The incident comes as Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country face an uptick in racist harassment and attacks related to the coronavirus crisis.
Over the past month alone, the group Stop AAPI Hate has received close to 1,500 reports of anti-Asian incidents, ranging from verbal harassment to physical assault, Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, told Business Insider in April.
Police were also investigating whether Arechiga posted a similar note on a local trail earlier in the week.
The note partially read, “no Asians allowed, leave immediately,” according to the police statement.
An Asian-American woman told KGO-TV her family was shaken after finding a similar note posted on a tree trunk in the neighborhood. The woman, who asked not to be named for safety concerns, said “reading this letter sends chills down my spine.”
“Obviously there’s been a spike in attacks against the Asian American community due to this pandemic,” she said. “It’s sad to see that.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.