The couple has been skipping walks around the neighborhood with their newborn.
An Indian American couple in Richmond, Washington found a diaper on their doorstep with a bizarre note inside saying “You are under attack” and “Watch yourself,” Tri-City Herald reported.
The couple, who practice the Sikh faith, were returning home from dinner and the note left them baffled. Tri-City Herald, which first reported the news, has not revealed any details about the family except that the husband is an engineer.
“Those things bothered us, and the diaper and note were strange and upsetting,” Tri-City Herald quoted the husband.
“I’ve never had any bad interaction with any of neighbors. I was very surprised. Why would anybody do this?” he said and didn’t want to be named because of safety concerns.
He also added that he has never felt unsettled in the US as he has been living and working here for years. But, after this incident and learning about many other incidents he put security cameras up around his home. The couple has been skipping walks around the neighborhood with their newborn, the newspaper reported.
Another Indian American who lives in the neighborhood also shared his experience with the newspaper that he and his friend were yelled at while out for coffee a few months ago.
“At first we thought she was shouting at someone else. Then we realized she was shouting at us. She was mostly shouting the F-word,” the man told Tri-City Herald. “She said, ‘You people come here and steal our jobs.’ We felt uncomfortable. I told my friend, ‘Let’s go.’”
According to the report, the group Love Not Hate Tri-Cities is working to ensure immigrants and other potentially marginalized groups feel safe and accepted. Tri-City area law enforcement agencies also say that they haven’t seen a spike in racially or religiously motivated crimes.
However, the report quotes different studies and adds that hate crimes and the number of hate groups are on the rise nationwide.