A Windsor woman is expressing shock after what she discovered on a city street Tuesday afternoon.
Mei Elhusaini said she was walking to her mom's house when she reportedly saw a white SUV parked at Assumption Street and Parent Avenue that had been vandalized with black spray paint, but it's what was written on the vehicle that stuck out for her.
"I look over to the left and I noticed there was writing on the car. At first, I thought it was a prank or just a joke," she said.
Instead, Elhusaini noticed the car had the words "F-U Arab" spray-painted along the side along with an apparent swastika. Elhusaini, who lives two blocks away from where the vehicle was parked, posted an image of the vehicle to social media and it quickly garnered hundreds of reactions hours after getting posted.
According to Elhusaini, the neighbourhood which the crime took place in is a very diverse one. She said that what happened "doesn't make sense."
"Even if it was directed at one person, they kind of painted a brush over that person and everybody else," she said.
On Wednesday, the Windsor Police Service confirmed they're investigating after a white Cadillac was spray-painted with "wording and symbols which caused the case to be classified as a hate crime." In addition to the spray paint, the vehicle suffered extensive damage including the door handles being glued shut, the tires being slashed and a large dent on the driver’s door. According to police, the owner of the SUV noticed what had been done to it late Tuesday morning, after parking the vehicle there overnight.
Elhusaini said that when she came across the car, she was conflicted over what to do.
"That was the strange part too," she said. "Not knowing what to do, whether to call the police or not because it's not my car."
Elhusaini is of Arabic and Asian descent and said although she isn't familiar with the owner of the car, what happened makes her "uncomfortable." When she posted the image to Facebook, she said she wasn't expecting it to get as much attention as it did, but is hoping the incident can shed some light on the issue of racism.
"A lot of people don't realize that this is still a real thing. People face it every day. My mom goes to work and tells me about how people tell her to 'go back to her country.' When we talk to people about it though, they say 'oh no, that's from back then,' but it still happens today... this is me walking to my moms house in 2019," said Elhusaini. "I hope people see that this is a legit thing and that we actually start talking about it and figure out how to get along. We all human."
Windsor police have told Blackburn News that they do not have any further details on the incident other than what was was made public in a news release. They're asking anyone with information on the crime to contact them.
https://www.facebook.com/mei.el.7/posts/2755080661171797
