Message of hate mars San Francisco neighborhood

Neighbors changed this message to "(heart) more Chinese" before city workers painted it over.

SOMEBODY is spray painting "No More Chinese" in the Portola district of San Francisco. 

The Portola neighborhood has changed in the last few years with Asians making up more than half of the households. That apparently, doesn't sit well with some of the old-timers. 

Over the Labor Day Weekend, someone scrawled this anti-Chinese message throughout the Portola district, one of the few remaining neighborhoods in the city where homes are still affordable for middle-class families.

It is being investigated by the police not just as acts of vandalism, but as hate crimes. The paint color, the message and the writing style seems to indicate it was done by the same person.

The graffiti took place Sunday, according to a police statement, with the message spray-painted at several locations in the Portola neighborhood, just south of where Highway 101 and Interstate 280 merge.

Among the targets were the Palega Recreation Center, an out-of-business supermarket, the 100 block of Brussels Street and the 1300 block of Silver Avenue.

Vickie Chau saw the offensive graffiti and posted photos of them on Facebook. Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man blog reposted the photos on Monday. Her post has been shared over 1,100 times as of Monday afternoon.

“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.”

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

Police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandanm a Filipina/American, said they are handling this as a vandalism and hate crime investigation. Hate crimes carry heavier fines and jail terms.

UPDATE: Neighbors respond.

What's most disturbing about this incident is that this is happening in San Francisco with one of the largest concentrations of Asians of any U.S. mainland city. You would think that anyone - ANYONE - in San Francisco would have social interactions with Asians, in particularly Chinese, since they make up the largest Asian group in the city.

If this type of sentiment is being expressed in a city that is supposedly Asian-friendly, imagine what can happen in other cities? Even more hateful messages or deeds against Asians is even more likely since 2012 when immigrants from Asia became the largest number of immigrants entering the United States.

Anyone with information regarding the graffiti 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.

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