Family May Be Target of Racist Vandals

An African American woman whose home reportedly has been targeted by racist vandals several times since Friday told police she found a sheet with a painted face hanging from a noose outside her front door on Thursday.

Karole Lee, who moved to the Country Apartments with her husband, Don, and 13-year-old daughter in March, told police that she discovered the sheet when a friend arrived about noon. It was not there in the morning, she said.

Lee has reported incidents of racially offensive graffiti, small fires, vulgar notes and hang-up phone calls, all since Friday.

Santa Ana police say they are investigating the incidents.

Rusty Kennedy, head of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, said he is concerned for the family’s safety and has contacted Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters regarding the incidents.

“We are going to make sure that no one is denied their right to live free of harassment in our county,” Kennedy said.

Another African American woman living in the same complex received a threatening and racially offensive phone call Thursday, he said.

“I am afraid of an escalation because of the persistence we see in the attacks,” Kennedy said.

Last year, 183 hate crimes and incidents were reported in Orange County, Kennedy said. Fifty-three of the victims were African American, 31 Jewish, 22 Latino and 19 Asian.

Lee said she is trying to move out but has not found another apartment she can afford.

“I feel like I’m on edge,” said Lee, who relocated to Orange County from Miami. “No one should have to live like that.”

Lee said the incidents began Friday when a stranger, whom she described as Latino with curly, black hair wearing dark blue pants and a blue flowered shirt, broke into her apartment. Though she said she was able to push him out of her home without incident, she was shaken.

On Saturday, she said she found racist graffiti on her sliding glass patio door and a burning phone book on her front step. On Monday, she said, she found a detailed, vulgar note on her front door.

On Tuesday, she reported a flower pot on fire on her front patio. The next day, she said, the family received hang-up phone calls at dawn.

Lee said she will not be chased out of California.

“I’m not ready to go back to Florida because we came here with a goal in mind,” she said. “We came here to start our own business and live a decent life. No one is going to make us leave.”