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One afternoon earlier this month, Nicki Pancholy returned from a hike in Mission Peak Regional Preserve in Fremont to find her back car window smashed and a threatening note on the dashboard that read, “Hijab Wearing B—. This is our nation, now get the F— out.”

Whoever targeted the 41-year-old Milpitas woman assumed, wrongly, that she was Muslim. In fact, she has Lupus and was wearing a bandanna to protect her head from the sun. In addition to attacks and slurs against people wrongly perceived to be Muslim or members of other racial and ethnic groups, there has been an escalation of threats, assaults and other violence against actual Muslims throughout the Bay Area and the country.

According to the FBI, hate crimes targeting Muslims reached their highest levels in 2015 since post 9/11. There has been an uptick of incidents since the election of Donald J. Trump who, during his campaign, called for a ban on Muslim immigration and the establishment of a federal registry for followers of Islam.

Fremont, which prides itself on its diversity and strong interfaith community, has a very visible Muslim population that includes immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Some of those residents came to recent City Council and Human Relations Commission meetings and told local officials they were afraid because of rising anti-Muslim sentiment.

In response, Fremont officials issued a public letter to the community signed by the mayor and City Council members reaffirming the city’s commitment to a diverse, inclusive community. It encourages victims of threats or violence to report incidents to the authorities and the new hate crime tip line established by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. The letter echoes public remarks by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and other Bay Area elected officials who addressed recent violence targeting people because of their religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

“People came in from the school district and other places talking about a lot of unkind things that either they or their friends or relatives had experienced,” said Suzanne Shenfil, Fremont’s director of human services. “So the human relations commission felt the city needed to take a stand.”

Mayor Bill Harrison said the letter’s purpose is twofold.

“It tells people it won’t be tolerated,” Harrison said, “but it also tells people if it’s out there, don’t be afraid to report it.”

The liberal and culturally diverse Bay Area has not been immune from the national trend. Earlier this month, Esra Altun, a 19-year-old sophomore at San Jose State University, was walking to her car in a university parking garage when someone came up behind her and grabbed her hijab, choking her for several seconds. Last week, someone sent a letter to the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose, stating that Trump would do to Muslims what Hitler did to Jews. Also this month, a woman speaking Assyrian on BART was verbally berated by a fellow passenger who called her a “stalker from the Middle East” who “Trump might deport.”

Longtime Fremont resident Moina Shaiq, who is Muslim, said people fear both anti-Islam attacks and Trump’s vow to create a national Muslim registry. “People are afraid to talk to the police because they might be reported to the FBI,” she said.

According to Fremont officials, the city’s letter further states that it will be “vigilant and vocal” about changes to federal policy that impact local residents.

Sameena Usman, government relations coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said public statements by public officials denouncing bigotry are important.

“It shows that our leadership will not support this and that there is a recourse, as well where people can go to report these incidents to law enforcement and that they should be reported,” Usman said.