Rally Against Racist Graffiti
Karen Fernandez of the Big Tent San Leandro organizations welcomes people to a rally in support of Sonia Reed being welcomed to her new house in Ashland, held at Hillcrest Knolls Park on Saturday, February 22. Reed herself is pictured third from left.
Some 60 people rallied at Hillcrest Knolls Park in Ashland on Saturday, February 22, in support of a new homeowner in the neighborhood whose welcome had been marred by racist graffiti painted on her fence. San Leandro community group Big Tent San Leandro organized the event.
“I did not know a month after closing on my house I’d be doing this,” Sonia Reed told the crowd, who she thanked for coming out.
Reed had overcome both addiction and homelessness decades ago to go to school, begin working, and start her climb to a supervisor position at a healthcare nonprofit. She saved her money and applied for every kind of first-time homebuyer assistance available before finding her house on Upland Avenue, off 150th Avenue near Fairmont Drive.
Racing to buy the house in time for Christmas, she escrows on December 22 last year. It needed some work, so she hired some workers right away to fix the house up.
She said she looked forward to building a porch on which she could sit with her grandchildren, her grown children, and her neighbors.
Reed said she especially looked forward to starting a garden and sharing fruits and vegetables with her new neighbors.
Trouble from at least one neighbor started immediately, though. Reed was first told to get rid of her immigrant workers and then to remove “her Black face” soon after that. Her house was broken into, the interior was gutted, and the workers’ tools were stolen. Earlier this month, racist graffiti was painted on her fence, which drew news coverage on both television and in newspapers.
When she went to paint over the graffiti, the county at first ordered her to stop, she said. A neighbor had reported her for not having needed permits, which needed to be from the county, not the city as she had thought.
With permits secured, a squad of volunteers spent this past Thursday repainting her fence in a much cheerier theme.
Other supporters talked to her neighbors, trying to calm the waters and find out the source of the problem.
“One thing we learned is that most of the neighbors are very nice people, both Black and white,” said Karen Fernandez, who coordinated the Saturday rally for Big Tent. “But there is at least one bigot, perhaps two, there.”
Messages opposing racism and welcoming all to that neighborhood and to the area, in general, were delivered by speakers including Reed, Fernandez, San Leandro City Councilmember Fred Simon, Big Tent founder and long-time social justice activist Bernard Ashcraft, current Big Tent leader Stephen Michael Tow, neighbor Van Turner III, and Addie Kitchen, grandmother of Steven Taylor, who was shot to death by a San Leandro police officer in 2020.
Other attendees read poems and there was a short dance performance.
Tow said the Big Tent group has set up a GoFundMe account for Reed’s temporary expenses, since her house is not currently inhabitable. Anyone who wants to donate can go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-sonia-in-san-leandro-against-hate.
“No Hate, No Fear, Everyone Is Welcome Here” read the sign welcoming people to the rally, which became a crowd chant at one point.