On Aug. 22, pellet rounds were shot through the side window of the Hayward-South Alameda County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Another nearby building had also been vandalized, police reported.
The B Street office is located in close proximity with other businesses and could have been seen as just another storefront. However, last Sunday, a rock was thrown through the same window, giving serious cause for concern.
Chapter President Freddye M. Davis called the acts “very troubling” and said that the organization, as well as the Hayward Police Department, was taking them “very seriously.”
Although the police have not concluded their investigation and do not know the true motive behind the attacks, it is hard not to draw some presumptions.
The NAACP is an indelible symbol of civil rights in America, and remains actively involved in the fight for justice for all its citizens. As a result, it is a visible target for racist and generally angry subsets of our society.
Attacks on the NAACP are not uncommon. Davis said that offices around the country continually deal with threats and acts of violence.
In 2008, a known white supremacist was arrested for mailing a noose to the home of Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima, Ohio NAACP. Such threats are taken very seriously because of how easily aggressive intent can turn into crime.
Although most people in Alameda County condemn these acts, whether they are thoughtless mischief or calculated terrorism, there are those who would condone them. Castro Valley has historically been a hub for the West Coast Ku Klux Klan, and the modern Arian Brotherhood is still alive and well within many local neighborhoods.