On a sunny afternoon in Capitola, Calif., Japanese American Melissa Tao came back to her car to find a cup full of urine left on her windshield, Newsweek reports. Anti-Asian slurs and hateful messages were scrawled across the plastic in black marker, including phrases such as “F— off Chinese,” “Kill China” and “Die China.”
“my thoughts you may ask? disgust, fear, and sadness that someone was watching and waiting for me to come back to what they may think was a joke…” Tao wrote in an Instagram post about the incident.
According to the police, who Tao had notified, they were investigating the “disgusting and disturbing incident.”
Despite the horrific situation, Tao said that it was important for her to share her experience.
“i want to post this in order to bring awareness to the Santa Cruz area that racism and hate exists in our small little town that I’ve called home the past 24 years. I never knew such a thing would occur in a place that has made me feel so safe and secur,” she wrote.
In response to a comment that asked her why she was touching the cup in pictures included in the Instagram post, Tao said, “because someone had to take the courage to send the evidence to the police when requested. Hand sanitizer was my best friend 👍🏼.”
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