A 52-year-old woman, Nancy Arechiga was arrested by San Leandro police for posting handwritten messages with racist overtones at several homes. She posted letters targeting Asian Americans, cops said.
The letter she had written asked non-natives of Americans to leave the United States immediately. The incident was reported from San Leandro, a suburb in Oakland, California. Cops were informed about the 'notes' that had insensitive messages targeting minorities. The notes were found on doors of at least five homes in the suburb.
Note also mentioned the writer of the note as American, white, brave, that serves the Nation or USA. "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 stated.
Identified By CCTV Footage
Police took action and arrested Arechiga after a resident helped the police find images of the woman captured on CCTV while posting the note. Arechiga was found with a backpack that had copies of the same note. She was arrested on charges of posting inappropriate messages instilling fear and intimidation upon the residents."
After the arrest, the police took her to Alameda County jail. She has been booked for committing a hate crime. Currently, she has been released after she provided a citation. As still pandemic rules apply, California is going with the bail fee at $0 for low-level crimes and misdemeanors and it applied to Arechiga too.
Arechiga has been asked to appear in court but the date is yet to be set as it is Memorial Day and holiday weekend. A report in Associated Press claimed that the phone number of Arechiga listed with the police has been disconnected.
'No Asians Allowed'
In a similar incident, a note was found on a local trail with the message "no Asians allowed, leave immediately." Cops are trying to ascertain if Arechiga is behind these posts too. An Asian-American had found a similar note with a threatening overtone on a tree trunk and said this letter had sent chills down her spine.
As soon as the San Leandro police posted her picture with the note on its Facebook page, netizens took to social media to slam her as a racist and congratulated the police for arresting her.
"So here's an innocent enough looking lady right? Wrong. She caught Beckyitis and her alabastarian self was going around a neighborhood in San Leandro telling them to 'go back to [their] countries," said one Twitter user.
