SEAL BEACH, Calif. — Local supporters rallied together Wednesday afternoon in front of Leisure World Seal Beach retirement community after a Korean American widow received a racist, hate-filled letter less than a week ago. 

Locals and Leisure World residents joined in condemning the hateful act, including longtime resident Jeanne Pontac.

"It's disgusting. It sickened me. It hurt," she said. "I don't know the woman personally, but I have many friends who are Asian American who live here."

The incident sparked outrage nationally after the widow's daughter, Claudia Choi, spoke out about the letter. She said her mother received it in the mail the day they buried her father.

It read in part, "you freakin [sic] Asians are taking over our American community."

Choi said she almost did not give the letter a second glance. Growing up in Indiana as a Korean American, Choi said she heard racial insults often.

"I had heard those phrases so many times, I was like, well, what are we going to do?" she said. "But the more I read it and the more I saw how pointed it was and how it celebrated the passing of my father, the angrier I became."

Choi said police are investigating the letter as a hate crime. However, she is still worried about her mom living in the retirement community, where she suspects a fellow resident sent the anonymous letter.

"There's [a] concern for sure because the kind of hate that you have to have to do this is extreme," she said.

However, Choi said Leisure World, which condemned the act through a statement on its website, is giving extra protection to her mother. Many seniors in the community also have offered their support.

For other residents, such as Korean American Matthew Ahn, he is concerned that someone filled with so much hate lives among their ranks.

"With that person in this kind of community, we may not be safe anymore," he said. "We are not. I'm afraid." 

Ahn and his wife, Grace, have lived in the retirement community for eight years. They have spent the last year cooped up due to the pandemic, but now that they are vaccinated, they want to venture out, but they are worried.

Although Choi was not involved in the event Wednesday, she plans to participate in a rally inside Leisure World for residents next week.

She said Rep. Michelle Steel and Rep. Katie Porter were expected to participate.

Choi said it is about time people spoke out against anti-Asian hate she has witnessed for years. She thinks her father, who was very outspoken, would be proud of the attention she is drawing to the issue.

"I want people to stop putting us as other and stop telling us to go home and realizing we are home," Choi said.