The woman who was on the receiving end of a racist, anti-Asian rant that went viral now feels paranoid to be alone in public
- The woman who was berated with racist slurs while exercising in a public park in California told Insider she now fears going out in public alone.
- The woman, who identified herself as Sherry, was exercising in a park in Torrance, California, when a woman began yelling anti-Asian slurs at her.
- "Go back to whatever f---ing Asian country you belong in," the woman could be heard shouting, adding that her family was "going to f--- you up."
- The woman was later identified by police as Lena Hernandez.
- Hernandez is also the suspect in two other racist incidents. One of them occurred at the same park and on the same day as the encounter with Sherry.
- In a Wednesday statement, Torrance police said they located Hernandez but did not arrest her because the incidents were "misdemeanor crimes and did not occur in the presence of an officer."
The woman who was berated with racist slurs while exercising in a public park in California last week says she is "paranoid" to go out in public by herself.
A trending video showed a woman, later identified by authorities as Lena Hernandez, shouting racist insults at another woman who was exercising in Wilson Park in Torrance, California.
"Go back to whatever f---ing Asian country you belong in," the woman could be heard shouting.
The woman she yelled at — who identified herself only by a first name, Sherry — told Insider that she felt afraid during the encounter and now fears going out alone.
"I've been feeling paranoid. Like this paranoia — like, is she out here like looking for me, out to get me or sending someone else to get me?" she said.
"I can't even do my normal life routine. I can't even go by myself anymore."
Sherry added that she wasn't expecting to have an encounter like this in Torrance, a city she described as diverse.
More than 36% of the city's population is Asian and around 30% of residents were born outside the US, according to the US Census.
"I was so confused," Sherry told Insider. "I was just not expecting that from this little city."
'This is not your home'
The video starts with the woman, identified as Hernandez, yelling: "We don't play games here anymore. OK. Next time you ever talk to me like that, you're going to get your ass kicked by my family. They're going to f--- you up."
Sherry can then be heard asking: "What did I do?"
She later told Insider: "I also felt threatened and scared because she said her family was gonna come for me. I don't know who her family is. I don't know if they were like chilling at the park. I don't know if they were right around the corner. I felt scared and paranoid."
Watch a video of the encounter here:
Sherry said she was recording her workouts, like she normally does, when the woman appeared to purposefully run into her.
"I wasn't expecting it to escalate to that degree," she said. "I thought after she nudged me, and I said 'oh Jesus,' and she was yelling at me, telling me that I need a job and that I was a b---- for taking up the stairs. I thought: OK, she's done. That's it. She's releasing stress."
But when she saw the woman start coming back toward her, she began deliberately recording the interaction as she realized the woman was "coming to me for trouble," Sherry told Insider.
"She was out to get me, I feel like. She targeted me. She's like: 'There she is, that's gonna be the girl today,' and I said 'oh Jesus,' and she flipped out," she said.
"I don't feel like I did anything to deserve that."
At one point in the video, Hernandez can be heard telling Sherry to go to a gym to work out, adding: "This is not just for you. Get the f--- out of this world. Get the f--- out of this state.
"Go back to whatever f---ing Asian country you belong in. This is not your place. This is not your home. We do not want you here."
Sherry explained that while she used to love going to the park alone, the experience has left her scared to do so. She doesn't even want to go to a store by herself now, for fear of running into Hernandez again or being confronted in another racist incident.
"I always thought if you mind your own businesses no one could come and bother you," she told Insider. "That was really shocking."
Identified in 3 separate racist incidents, but not arrested
The Torrance Police Department identified the woman behind the racist slurs as Hernandez, a resident of Long Beach, on June 13. In a press release published one day prior, police said they had found two additional incidents involving the same suspect.
One incident took place in October 2019, at a mall, where Hernandez was "yelling and cursing at a female custodian while in the restroom."
The other took place also on the morning of June 10 at Wilson Park, where Sherry was exercising.
While leaving the park, Hernandez "verbally threatened a male victim for not parking correctly and made racial slurs," the release said.
A video of that incident also went viral on social media.
Sherry, who also the video of the second incident, said: "I was shocked that she was still lingering and did it to someone else."
In a Wednesday statement, Torrance police said they located and interviewed Hernandez in a park in San Pedro, a nearby city, but did not arrest her.
"Based on the fact that all incidents are misdemeanor crimes and did not occur in the presence of an officer, Hernandez was not arrested at the time of the interview," the statement said.
Trump helped stigmatize Asian Americans
Sherry said that the racist rhetoric that Hernandez used makes her feel like she doesn't belong here, and it's especially painful with all the anti-Asian rhetoric tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's just hurtful," she said.
She said phrases like the "Chinese virus" — which have also been used by President Donald Trump — create negative connotations that could lead to stigmatization and attacks on Asian Americans.
"I feel like if people did not just scream at each other and we could just talk, then things would not turn out bad," she said.
Sherry said she wants Hernandez caught so she can't "assault someone else," but still worries that Hernandez's family could find her or she could face another similar incident.
- Read more:
- Video shows a woman shouting 'go back to whatever f---ing Asian country you belong in' at another woman for working out in public
- Police arrested a Bay Area woman who they say posted racist notes on the homes of Asian Americans
- 12 must-read books for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- Trump says Asian-Americans were targeted by 'nasty language' during coronavirus pandemic