San Francisco police are being urged to take alarming racist threats seriously

After Williams found the first doll, Queirolo launched an online fundraiser to “install a great security system (with cameras)” and “take some financial pressure off the family during a very difficult and scary time,” according to the statement GoFundMe page. As of Wednesday, the fundraiser had raised more than $10,000.

“I think when it happened, me and some other neighbors were obviously completely horrified,” Queirolo said in an interview. “It’s so disgusting that someone would feel so much hate, and it’s also just extremely scary that he could be in our neighborhood.”

Williams runs a dog walking business and said he has had racist and unfriendly encounters with dog owners and residents over the years.

“I was called a few times, countless times. I’ve had a lady up here call the police saying my dogs attacked her and her 18 pound Yorkie. She called the police and tried to have me arrested three times for assault and battery,” Williams said. The View of San Francisco Baya local black newspaper, reported the alleged incident in 2021.

Williams said he wanted the woman charged under the CAREN Act, a local ordinance against racially motivated 911 calls, and was concerned to discover months later that no charges had been filed. San Francisco police did not immediately respond to questions about the incident.

The Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church near Alamo Square, said it’s important to keep the neighborhood’s history in mind when talking about racist acts.

“Be aware that this area has been gentrified. Here in the Western Addition, the Old Fillmore, the Harlem of the West,” Brown said. “Black people were displaced as part of the so-called redevelopment program that began in 1948.”

Brown added, “It wasn’t about redevelopment or urban renewal — it was about black removal.”

On Sunday, Williams showed up at Third Baptist Church “to find refuge in the midst of his trauma,” Brown said. The church prayed for him and Williams spoke passionately about what he had experienced, Brown said. Williams said he had not planned to speak at the church during his visit but felt moved to do so.

“There have always been various acts of injustice and discrimination against Black people in this city,” Brown said. He mentioned a recent incident at Lakeshore Elementary School in which a white parent threatened a 10-year-old black child and said he has received many calls in recent weeks from parents of black children about racist incidents at San Francisco schools.

“San Francisco is not as progressive and liberal as it claims.”