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Racist, Anti-Chinese Messages Tagged On San Francisco Buildings

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The San Francisco police department said they are investigating a spate of racist, anti-Chinese graffiti appearing in the Portola and Bay View neighborhoods as a hate crime.

Vickie Chau told CBS San Francisco her dad found a white fence with the message "NO MORE CHINESE" spray-painted in orange all-cap letters Sunday morning on University Street in between Bacon and Wayland streets.

After posting the disturbing graffiti on Facebook, Chau said she quickly discovered there were more. Other neighbors began posting and sending pictures from all over the Portola neighborhood, an area with a large Asian population.

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The photos show Palega Park's baseball field and at least four other locations bearing the same exact message and lettering.

"I've seen graffiti in my neighborhood before, but never with this type of message," Chau said. "Overall based on the messages I've received, the community has been supportive and want to find the culprit."

Her post has been shared over 1,100 times as of Monday afternoon.

Chau said some neighbors have painted over the "NO" and left "MORE CHINESE" to make the message more positive.

The blog Angry Asian Man raised attention to these racist messages in a post Monday with several photos showing the same orange spray-painted messagr covering sidewalks, doors and street corners.

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Police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said they are handling this as a vandalism and hate crime investigation.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the SFPD Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.

Nicole Jones is a digital producer for CBS San Francisco. Follow her musings @nicjonestweets

 

 

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