San Leandro Residents React To Arrest Of Woman Accused Of Posting Racist Letters On Local Homes
SAN LEANDRO (CBS SF) -- A woman identified as Trinh says her brother's Ring video captured a woman wearing a white USA beanie leaving a racist, handwritten note on his front door on Friday.
Not long after, police arrested 52-year-old Nancy Arechiga of San Leandro, for posting insensitive messages toward minorities.
"Someone can be so deranged, to wake up one morning and take the time, hand write it, wasn't even xeroxed, it was handwritten several times, posted on several houses, and tree and targeted specifically Asian American household," said Trinh.
Notes were found on 5 different homes suggesting people not native to America leave the country immediately, according to San Leandro police.
One letter was posted to a tree in the Heron Bay neighborhood. After quoting the Constitution, it gives a deadline to leave this country and says "no Asian allowed."
Another says: "If you are a woman or man and was born in another country, return, go back to your land immediately, fast, with urgency."
Trinh said this was her family's first encounter with this kind of racism in the neighborhood.
"It's very quiet, very diverse, I've always felt safe, I do a lot of my evening jog there," she said. I've never felt threatened at any point in my life."
San Leandro police said Arechiga was booked into Santa Rita Jail, but due to the current state bail schedule, she has been cited and released from custody. Trinh says she commends officers for their quick and hard work, but her family wants to see justice done.
This case is the latest in a string of anti-Asian intimidation and racism, since the start of the pandemic.
Over the weekend, Seattle police say a white man in his mid-20s to mid-30s is suspected of three attacks. Witnesses say he showed up at a Thai restaurant demanding to know if they were Chinese. He's also accused of spitting at another victim.
