A church in Seattle was targeted with racist, anti-Asian messages this week, marking the fourth such incident on the property in 2021.
Messages in the parking lot of the International Full Gospel Fellowship Church on Monday included statements like “China, you will pay” and “f— China.” Another message said “go home.”
Anastasia Antonius, an office manager at the church, told The Hill that the perpetrators used hay to spell out the messages.
When reached for comment, the Seattle Police Department said it could not confirm whether a report had been filed over the incident.
Antonius said the church was targeted with similar anti-Asian messages earlier this year — once in January and twice in February. All of the messages focused on China.
The church has not been holding in-person services amid the coronavirus pandemic, but its day care has been open for children, she added.
“We’re pretty terrified and nervous about our teachers, the safety of our children,” Antonius said.
Antonius said only about 5 percent of their congregation is of Chinese descent, as well teachers at their day care who are from China, KOMO in Seattle reported.
“It doesn’t make sense. Our teachers are so gentle and nice,” Antonious told KOMO.
She added that the church is installing a security system this week.
Antonius told The Hill that church leaders and members “don’t want to spread the hate” in the wake of the incidents.
“I mean, I don’t want to hate them too. We accept everyone, but we just want to stop this hatred,” she said.
The incident in Seattle took place just a day before a shooting spree in Atlanta left eight people dead, six of whom were Asian women. Atlanta police on Wednesday told reporters that it was too early to determine if the shootings should be considered a hate crime.
Antonius called the Atlanta shooting “so discouraging.”
Violent attacks against Asian Americans increased last year by nearly 150 percent in major U.S. cities, according to NBC News.
More than 3,000 hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic.
Many Democrats have pointed to former President Trump’s rhetoric on COVID-19 as contributing to anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S.
“I think there’s no question that some of the damaging rhetoric that we saw during the prior administration — calling COVID the ‘Wuhan virus’ or other things — led to perceptions of the Asian American community that are inaccurate, unfair… has elevated threats against Asian Americans, and we’re seeing that around the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday.
Updated at 7:37 p.m.