Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Asian Widow Receives Letter Telling Her To 'Go Back To Your Country' On Day Of Husband's Burial

Asian Widow Receives Letter Telling Her To 'Go Back To Your Country' On Day Of Husband's Burial
CBS Los Angeles/Youtube

Yet another act of aggressive racism toward Asian people has occurred and been shared across the internet. This time, the intolerant hatred took the form of a handwritten note from one retirement home neighbor to another.

Claudia Choi, of Los Angeles, told CBS Los Angeles about the hate-filled message her mother received after the death of her husband, Choi's father, Byong.


The letter, which was postmarked on the very same day as Byong's funeral, included the following message:

"Now that Byong is gone it makes it one less Asian to put up with in Leisure World. You fricken Asians are taking over our American community! It is not resting well with all and everybody who lives here--true statement!!

Leisure World is the name of the retirement community Byong lived in, along with Choi's mother, until his recent death.

The note closed with a threat.

"Watch out! Pack your bags and go back to your country."

When speaking to CBS Los Angeles, Choi expressed her wide-ranging emotions following the incident.

"To target a grieving widow, it's disgusting. They postmarked it on the day of my father's funeral. How cruel could you be? Shame on them."
"Racism and hatred and cruelty needs to be denounced at every turn."

Choi expanded, describing how insidious this issue is—and called for advocacy.

"It's not just when somebody gets beaten up, although that's terrible or when women get murdered, that's awful, but when your neighbor says something like they need to go home or makes an Asian joke, you need to speak up and say that is not okay because these little things that we allow to pass lead to bigger things."


As for the formal response from Leisure World, a spokesperson confirmed the community's complete intolerance for hatred like this.

"This malicious and egregious act of hate speech threatens our core values of racial equity and social justice… We condemn in the strongest possible terms such action and that all actions will be taken to locate and prosecute the individual."

Leisure World also went on to ensure that the writer of the letter, if discovered, would be expelled from the community.

As for the likelihood of a suspect being identified, CBS Los Angeles went on to report that the Seal Beach Police Department will investigate using DNA and handwriting analysis.

The FBI will also be involved, as the letter was sent by mail, thus placing it in the federal agency's jurisdiction.

When another member of the Choi family posted the letter to their Facebook, people came in droves to express their outrage.

Mike Vo/Facebook


Katie Buckley Stevens/Facebook


Grace Jeng/Facebook


Kari Peyton/Facebook


Jules Bruff/Facebook


Joe Catone/Facebook

This, of course, was by no means an isolated incident.

CBS Los Angeles reported that Stop AAPI Hate, an organization that encourages people to report such hate incidents, has had 360 reports just in Los Angeles in the past year.

That figure reflects an alarming uptick nationwide, with 3,800 reports made in 2020, a 149% spike from the prior year.

Rest in power, Byong.

More from Trending

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less