Over 100 people gathered at Alamo Square Saturday morning to support Terry Williams, a Black dog walker and Alamo Square resident who, over the past few weeks, received two racist, threatening packages.
“We’re here because we love Terry, and we will not tolerate racism or crimes here in our district,” said moderator Jack Song. “We see in District 5 time and time again, when neighbors come together, things happen. We pressure the police to do more patrols in our neighborhood.”
“I’m doing better now, supporting my family and friends. My neighbors are always checking up on me,” said Williams, who said he wanted “not just the person to get caught, but to stop the racism. It still exists. It hasn’t went nowhere.”
On April 26, Williams received a package that featured racist slurs and a doll with a noose around its neck on the doorstep of his Alamo Square home. The incident was first reported by the San Francisco Bay View.
That was followed by another threatening package on May 5. This time, the package featured racist cartoons, Ku Klux Klan images and a toy grenade. “Pure race whites rules the globe against uppidy & ignornat Sambo n—s! [sic],” and “Get out of the Alamo Square District,” the sender wrote on the package.
Williams, 49, told Mission Local that the two incidents have deeply affected his family. He and his parents live in separate units in the same building near the square. Williams said that, since the two incidents, he has been keeping tabs on his nephew’s whereabouts, and has tried convincing his parents to temporarily leave the city.
The incidents have also triggered discussions of race in the area. Despite its proximity to the historically Black Fillmore and Western Addition, the blocks around Alamo Square are more than 55 percent white and about 10 percent Black, according to census data.
Williams said he has been called racist slurs in the past while out walking, and that a woman once accused his dogs of being too aggressive. But he had not anticipated the extreme nature of the packages.
The rally today came together in a WhatsApp group that has around 60 members, mostly neighbors who joined after Willams’ incident, according to Song.
Neighbor Katrina Queirolo said Williams was the first smiling face she and her boyfriend saw when they first moved into the neighborhood eight months ago. “We can prevent racism from being allowed or accepted in our neighborhood,” she told the crowd.
“Not here,” Queirolo added.
Stephen Spano, another neighbor, said his love for Williams left him no choice but to participate in the rally. “I don’t know how else to say, as many times as I’ve told him he’s loved, this [rally] is the only way to show it,” he said.
Crowd members held up signs reading “No to hate. We know and support Terry” and “Alamo Square stands for unity.” Dozens of crowd members had brought their dogs, many of them familiar with Williams: He runs Terry and Roxy’s Dog Walking, and is the go-to dog walker for many in the area.
Reverend Amos Brown, the president of the NAACP’s San Francisco chapter, condemned the “bigotry, nooses, Black dolls and all the paraphernalia that have remained,” and said “we must see that we are all members of the human family.”
The San Francisco Police Department is investigating both incidents as possible hate crimes. Despite the similarities between two cases — both included a caricatured black doll with a noose — it is unclear whether they were sent by the same person. The police declined to release further information, because investigations into the incidents remain open.
After receiving the first package, Williams called the police and FBI, and shared with them surveillance camera footage of the suspect he obtained from neighbors.
A GoFundMe for Williams and his family had raised $14,210 of its $15,000 target as of Saturday afternoon, including $1,000 from District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the area. The neighbors also wish to raise additional funds to create a “security system network” in the district.
“We’re trying to raise money for security cameras for people who can’t afford them, for people that want to have one,” said Song. “Basically creating a secured network so, in an event like this, we know which cameras to look at. Because we were scrambling, trying to get footage of the incident.”
As the morning wore on, some tourists visiting the Painted Ladies across the street joined the crowd. Pablo, an Argentinian, said he was “impressed about how the fight towards racism is still going on here, in the … most modern city in the world.”
“How things are still being fought here — that’s different for me,” he said.
Alamo Square is also in the middle of the square mile “campus” projected by billionaire fantasies of utopian capitalism. But these racist incidents certainly dont have anything to do with “ethnic cleansing” the neighborhood or banning the “blues” right?
And where is Balaji Srinivasan, Garry Tan, and their Network-State fascist grayshirts on this harassment? Oh yeah, Mr. Williams wouldn’t be allowed in the neighborhood if they had their way.
Godbless terry and family!! Yes great neighbors the way it should be!!!!! WTH cares what color your skin is?? Don’t know who is doing this but lord knows it’s the soul of pure evil
SF stands with you, Terry.
This stuff makes the blood boil. Very glad to see the neighborly support. Sooner those cameras get installed the better. All the best, Terry!