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Hearth chars dwelling of Black canine walker focused by racist threats


Just weeks after he began receiving racist threats delivered to his doorstep, both of Terry Williams’ parents had to be rescued from their home after a sudden fire this morning engulfed the building in flames.

Williams’ mother, who is nearly 80, had to be carried out of the building, and his father was rescued as he was trying to escape the building, according to San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Jonathan Baxter. The fire department received the call about the fire at 11:31 a.m. and arrived shortly thereafter.

“They stopped me as I was trying to get her out,” said Williams, who was outside the unit when the fire started, as was his nephew who lives in the building.

Nearly an hour after the fire broke out, Williams was still standing outside with his two rottweilers, staring up at his childhood home as the dozen fire vehicles and 40 firefighters working to control the fire, occasionally throwing up his hands to his head in despair. At one point a firefighter shook Williams’ hand and said “We tried our best, man.”

Neighbors who had gathered at the scene came by to reassure Williams, offering him a place to stay or a meal.

The conflagration came just three weeks after Williams, who is Black, first received mail at his home featuring racist slurs: Two packages were sent to Williams containing a caricatured doll with a noose around its neck. The first doll, received in late April, was scribbled with racist epithets — the n-word, “Sambo,” and other, archaic terms — and threatened Williams directly: There is a “target on your back,” a message on the doll read.

Williams then received a second, very similar doll in early May featuring Ku Klux Klan imagery and more threats: “We will continute [sic] to exterminate you n— slaves!” the doll read.

The police have not made any arrests in the investigation, which they classified as a hate crime. Williams also filed a report with the FBI after he received additional threats in the US mail. Supervisor Dean Preston, who was also at the scene of the fire, has a resolution condemning the racist acts up for a vote at the Board of Supervisors this afternoon.



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