La Mesa neighborhoods flooded with antisemitic flyers
LA MESA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Residents in one La Mesa neighborhood woke up Sunday to find antisemitic flyers stuffed in plastic baggies in their yards. Similar hate flyers are being located in certain College Area neighborhoods as well.
“It scared me, I had chills, it frightened me. I was disgusted, I was appalled,” said real estate agent Jackie Metcalf.
She was doing a final walk through a home she sold in a La Mesa neighborhood when a baggie in the yard caught her attention Sunday morning.
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“I was like, ‘What is this? I can’t believe my eyes,’ I looked around and picked it up, and I was horrified,” Metcalf said.
People are finding two flyers inside laced with images and antisemitic information. On one flyer, the header reads “AB 3024” and goes on to refer to the state bill called ‘Stop Hate Littering Act,’ which would make hate littering unlawful.
“Somebody is passing out hate, it’s disgusting,“ Metcalf added.
San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo developed the idea for the bill and worked closely with San Diego Assemblymember Christopher Ward. It would allow people found distributing hate materials to be penalized up to $25,000.
“If they get caught doing this it means the attorney general, or district attorney, or city attorney, or a private citizen can bring that kind of action in court and penalize those that are spreading hate littering,” Campillo said. “This is radicalization in our neighborhoods. It’s people who will not commit violence on their own, but they know that somewhere in the neighborhood someone is just on the tip of being radicalized and then carrying out violence.”
La Mesa police say they have received reports of citizens finding these baggies and are asking anyone who finds them to report it.
“It just surprises me,” Berek Fiszlewicz said. “I am anxious. I have children and a wife. I’m scared for them, but I still have to speak up. If you don’t speak up, things get worse.”
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