Racial flier probed as a hate incident
A posting at an apartment complex near UCI sparks a police investigation.
The Irvine Police Department is investigating a report of a racially charged flier left in an elevator of Toscana Apartments, a residential complex near the UC Irvine campus where students live.
The f lier addresses noise levels within the complex and includes a paragraph in bold text that reads, “We also would like to remind our African American residents to keep conversation volume down and reduce music levels between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Multiple complaints have been made regarding this issue.”
According to some pub- lished reports, a UCI student under the username “teyent_theequeenb” found the f lier in a complex elevator on Thursday. The student posted a picture of the flier on Instagram the same night.
An image of the Equity Residential logo appears on the f lier. However, Equity Residential representative Marty McKenna said that the flier was not a product of the housing company.
“The note was not created by any employees of Equity Residential,” McKenna said. “We are completely baffled and offended by the language and are cooperating with the police to investigate the matter.”
Police are currently investigating the f lier’s language as a hate incident. Irvine Mayor Steven Choi said the f lier is not ref lective of the community.
“It is shocking that an individual would spread that kind of racial slur to the public,” he said. “We celebrate diversity every day, as illustrated by our cultural festivals that help bring our lives together. In Irvine, this is how we learn from each other. This is how we can live in peace and harmony.”
Toscana resident and UCI fourth-year student Tej Patel said Friday that he first learned of the f lier the night before when his roommate saw it in the elevator of the building they live in and texted him a picture of it. Patel said he and his roommate didn’t believe the management had put it up and considered it a “terrible joke.”
“In an area like Orange County, you’d expect people to be more humane than that,” Patel said. “We can’t always live in a perfect, harmonious world but it’s a shame to know someone would subject a specific group of people this way.”
Although UCI students live in the Toscana Apartments, the facilities are “not affiliated with the university in any way,” said Tom Vasich, a university spokesman.