Deepali Patel says America has changed of late.
AB Wire
An Indian American woman, who grew up in Greenwood, Indiana, and never felt singled out despite being the only Indian-origin student in school, is now fearing that she’s being targeted because of her race, after some unidentified vandals spray painted vulgar graffiti on her driveway and mailbox.
“The cops just said they don’t think this is a hate crime. They think it’s just high school kids playing a joke or a prank,” said Deepali Patel, who lives on Tracey Jo Road in Greenwood, reported WTHR.
Patel wasn’t laughing, though, when she backed out of her driveway this morning on her way to work. That’s when she says her headlights lit up a picture of male private parts someone had spray-painted on her driveway in black paint.
“It was still dark out, so it was still hard to see things,” said Patel of why she didn’t see the image at first. “Then I walked over here and I saw the ‘FU’ which you can still kind of see.”
The letters were painted with the same black paint at the end of the driveway. Patel said another lewd picture was spray-painted on her mailbox. Her father painted over that vandalism.
She also said there were eggs broken everywhere in the yard and some on the door next to the garage.
Patel reported the vandalism to police, but said her parents aren’t worried about what happened.
“They’re like, ‘Why did you call the cops? Like, there’s no reason. It’s just little high school kids targeting us’,” Patel said.
Patel’s gut is telling her something else, though, WTH reported.
“‘FU’ just screams hate to me,” said Patel, speaking about the letters at the end of the driveway.
She said no other houses in the neighborhood were hit. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said they didn’t know of any other recent vandalism that was similar.
“Everyone in the neighborhood, like, they know us,” said Patel. “Everyone gets along with us. No one’s ever had a problem with us.”
Patel, whose parents are from India, said she can’t help but think there’s more to it.
“I went to Center Grove High School and throughout kindergarten to 12th grade, I was the only Indian and I never felt targeted because of my race, but it’s just things have changed recently,” said Patel.
“I just feel it at the airport,” she said. “You just don’t feel comfortable and it just seems like everyone’s looking at you the wrong way or like, they just think that you’re going to do something bad and it just sucks, ’cause I was actually born and raised in America,” Patel said, tears welling up in her eyes, her voice wavering.