Screenshot via WCNC Charlotte
A North Carolina real estate agent is speaking out after her sign was spray-painted with an ethnic slur, WCNC Charlotte reports.
This past weekend, someone spray-painted Zheng Zheng Wiley’s sign with an ethnic slur aimed at someone of Chinese descent. Wiley believes that the culprit may have targeted her because of COVID-19.
The sign is located by the Lancaster Highway in Pineville, North Carolina a town in Mecklenberg County.
Wiley told WCNC Charlotte she learned about the vandalism after getting a call from a police officer. The police had contacted Wiley after a community member had reported the vandalism.
“i had like a very sick feeling inside, like my inner voice told me ‘Oh my gosh,’ I need to go take it down,” Wiley said.
Asian American businesses throughout the country have been the victims of similar types of vandalism since the onset of the pandemic. Back in April, the New York City Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force was investigating 11 cases in which Asian Americans were targeted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to NBC News.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell condemned the vandalism.
“this is racist hate graffiti,” Commissioner Rodriguez-McDowell told WCNC Charlotte. “This is the kind of thing we need to all need to stand up to.”
The Commissioner encouraged residents to support an Asian American small business.
When news of the vandalism reached Facebook, hundreds of people sent messages of support. Some even sent money for a new sign. Wiley managed to get her sign cleaned up and is planning to donate the money she received to charity.
“This pandemic should pull us together instead of pulling us apart,” Wiley told WCNC Charlotte.
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