Hate crime? You have rendered the term meaningless, doing a tremendous disservice to actual victims of hate crimes. To have the police pursue this as a "hate crime" is idiotic.

This is a trivial case of vandalism. Replacing "Black" by "Asian" does not by any stretch of the imagination constitute hatred or any level of animosity toward any ethnicity. Think about it for a microsecond.

There was a move not so long ago to stop crime against Asians. I'm sure there may have been lawn signs supporting this. There is another article about defecating on a Ukrainian flag.

I no longer have any idea if these are hateful against any particular group, but they are definitely not what is expected in civil neighborhoods.

Should we really be concentrating on everyone getting on with everyone, with respecting other's property, and allowing us to support whoever we want to support. Lawn signs can be anything, advertising businesses, supporting a graduating high school senior, supporting a candidate or party for election, supporting a group or sending another type of message. Labeling one worse than another is doing a disservice to anyone who has had any type of lawn sign defaced or their property interfered with.

This article says that there have not been any similar incidents involving yard signs this year, but this is inaccurate. A Black Lives Matter sign was damaged in the Midtown area, accompanied by multiple messages with threats of violence against the resident. The Palo Alto police department was notified, and contacted the resident, so they are well aware of it, as are many others in the community.

This is the second time in a week that I've been tempted to comment on the inane use of the phrase "hate crime" in Palo Alto. I think we have officially descended into full-on group think.

For the record, in the first incident (vandalizing a Ukrainian flag) I felt the act was kind of sick, but labeling it a hate crime still inappropriate by the letter, the spirit, and the legacy of hate crime legislation and enforcement. In this incident, it seems that by altering the sign someone is trying to indicate that anti-asian racism is equally problematic and prevalent as anti-black racism. A debatable claim, and even more dubious is the idea that vandalizing a sign is a useful expression of the idea. But if you think it's a hate crime, you have (imho) a conclusion in search of confirming evidence.

"In this incident, it seems that by altering the sign someone is trying to indicate that anti-asian racism is equally problematic and prevalent as anti-black racism."

S. Underwood, do you not recall what happened in the early part of the pandemic, when Americans turned on fellow Asian citizens with harassment and acts of violence? This also happened here in Palo Alto. Here's an example from less than a year ago:

Web Link

Furthermore, ranking misery has never helped anyone. Unless you yourself are Black or Asian, probably not a good idea to opine without either personal experience or hard evidence for your assertion.

I sorta get it now?
Its a "One up Game about Racism"?
I Matter more than you do?
Am replacing My Better Sign (a piece of paper)?
Because it has "Asian" on it?
You vandalize the Sign, you get "The Brownie Points of Life" added?
So if an Asian refuses to Rent to a Black or brandish a Gun, at a Black in Their Store, they get more Brownie points (15pts)?
And If a Black attacks a Little Old Lady or Man and They fall down and expirer The Black gets 10pts per Old person?
While attending a East Palo Alto CC Meeting. A Speaker said this.... "When we moved in, We saved You from having Rats & Roaches"....Is this an example of Mattering More?
All of this is Just PLAIN SILLY!