SEYMOUR — A Chinese food restaurant received a flurry of profanity laced, racist death threats from two different phone numbers Friday.
Six calls arrived between 11:50 a.m. and noon, according to Meng Zheng, whose parents, Ju Zheng and Xuemei Chen, opened Sushi & Wok at 172 North St. about seven years ago.
The callers threatened to shoot the owners, and blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on people of Chinese descent.
Zheng said the calls shook her parents to the point where they called her at her job at Yale-New Haven Hospital to ask for her help. Zheng left her job and called the police on her parents’ behalf because there is a language barrier.
Seymour police confirmed Friday they were contacted and they are investigating. Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
In an interview Saturday, Zheng said the numbers came from two different area codes: 860 and 662.
“Originally it was just one number that was calling. My mother was getting very frustrated, so she hung up. They called back with a second number,” Zheng said.
Whether the calls were actually from those area codes or were robocalls using false numbers is not known, Zheng said.
“The police officer was saying that the numbers could be computer generated,” she said.
One of the callers appeared to be disguising his voice. “I don’t know if they were just changing the tone of their voices or using an app. My father said it was hard to tell through all the cursing. It was a blur.”
Zheng wrote a Facebook post on the Sushi & Wok Friday explaining the racist death threats to the public.
The post made its way to a Seymour community page on Facebook and went Valley viral, with more than 100 shares on Facebook and more than 100 comments supporting the business and its owners.
Zheng said she appreciated the reaction. She also pointed out a Seymour police car was outside the restaurant Friday, giving her parents a sense of security. The business is struggling to make a go of it. The restaurant’s supply chain has been disrupted because of travel advisories, Zheng said.
The COVID-19 coronavirus was first seen in China, with early conspiracy theories falsely claiming it was manmade. As the virus travels the world and into the United States, the number of incidents targeting Asian-Americans has been on the increase.
A professor at San Francisco State University set up a website to collect harassment reports March 19. More than 1,100 reports have been submitted to the site.
“The flood of incidents related to anti-Asian hate — over 1,100 and counting — reflect the hostile environment that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders face during this pandemic,” said Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. “The data helps us respond to specific community needs and make targeted policy recommendations.”
Things are happening locally, too, Zheng said.
She’s had people make remarks to her on the street in New Haven. At an area Stop & Shop a cashier asked whether she was Chinese, and if so, whether she was born in the U.S.
“There was no racial remark there, but the vibe was definitely off,” she said. “Then to have this happen to my parents the next day, it was just heartbreaking.”
Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller condemned the calls.
“It’s sad how ignorant some people are. Things like this disgust me,” he said. “They are hard working people who are a part of the Seymour community. I wish them nothing but the best.”
