Letter to Vacaville couple: ‘Your interracial family is not welcome here’

Marc Yu Marc Yu Photo: Handout / Marc Yu Photo: Handout / Marc Yu Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Letter to Vacaville couple: ‘Your interracial family is not welcome here’ 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

An anonymous letter sent to a Vacaville family urged them to find someplace else to live because the condition of their front yard was supposedly dragging down the “higher standards” of the “older neighborhood with established residents.”

“This is not the ghetto,” the letter said. “We may sound harsh, but your interracial family is not welcome here. We will contact your landlord and tell them to evict you if you don’t vacate in the next 60 days.”

Marc Yu found the letter sticking out of his mailbox on his way to work Wednesday morning.

The 43-year-old San Francisco native said he was surprised at first, then upset and eventually eager to see the letter-writer contact the family’s landlord: Yu owns the home.

“It’s a stupid letter,” he said.

Yu posted a picture of the letter on Facebook shortly after finding it.

“It’s 2019,” he wrote. “I can’t believe this ... still happens.”

Almost immediately, he received an outpouring of support online and in person, although a few commenters accused him of making up the whole thing. Neighbors knocked on the family’s door and told Yu, who is of Chinese and Filipino descent, and his wife, Sandy, who’s from Mexico, that they are welcome in the neighborhood.

Vacaville police Lt. Mark Donaldson said the letter was “disturbing and disappointing and not representative of the community,” but it’s probably not a criminal violation.

It wasn’t the first time the couple, who have five children, ages 2 to 12, got a message in the mail about the state of their lawn.

About two months ago, Yu said, he got another letter — one that “wasn’t so condescending” — telling the family to clear their front yard or else they would be reported to city officials. At some point, a code inspector showed up and the family cleaned up the items: a shelf, a small plastic shed and a new baby stroller.

The Yus moved into the house in November. The prior owners hadn’t maintained the lawn and it was mostly weeds, Yu said. He’s been trying to improve the yard, but between his job running a mortgage company branch and Sandy’s work taking care of the kids, the process has been slow.

After all the attention on social media and elsewhere, Yu said, he thinks the anonymous pen pal got the message “to not harass us anymore and just leave us alone.”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov