The anonymous letter is now being investigated by police. Photo / Supplied
The anonymous letter is now being investigated by police. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland woman has been left upset after a neighbour left an anonymous message in her letterbox referring to her as their "Russian neighbour" and telling her to "hang her head in shame" over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Margo Atkinson has been living in New Zealand for 22 years and was shocked to receive the letter, especially as she is originally from Bolivia, in South America, a country nearly 15,000km away from Russia.
"If you see me, I'm brown, with brown eyes … I don't think I look like a Russian in any way, shape or form," she told the Herald, still visibly upset, the day after finding the letter in her letterbox in Snells Beach.
The anonymous note was addressed to "Russia Margo" even though she is from Bolivia and has no connections to Russia.
"Hang your head in shame and revulsion at what your vile mass-murdering president is doing in your name," the letter tells her.
"Write to your relatives in Moscow and let them know how disgusted New Zealand and the West are at seeing what's happened," it continued.
"Any silent Russian is not welcome in Snells Beach or New Zealand," the anonymous person wrote.
The Bolivian woman does not understand why she received the letter. Photo / Supplied
For Atkinson, who is married to a New Zealander and has a 14-year-old son, her nationality, while making the letter even more misdirected, should not even be the question as she doesn't believe she would have deserved the message even if she was Russian.
"As an individual and an ordinary citizen, we don't have a say on what the Government does, when it's something so big. Who wants another child to be killed, another woman to be raped, because of whatever pride this is? What is happening to the world?
"I cried. There's a lot of pain around the world and we are bringing another layer of pain. You want to preach peace but you are preaching hatred. What's your point here?" she says.
Margo, who works as a hairdresser from home, says she is fearful of opening her salon and also worries for her 14-year-old son.
"I feel for us," she said. "I feel the hatred in humanity."
The Bolivian woman, who says she always saw New Zealanders as friendly people, says she cannot possibly have been targeted because of her appearance, as she fits the South American stereotype and does not look like the average Russian person.
"I'm short, brown, with brown eyes. I'm a South American woman," she says.
She believes that having an accent made her a target but she also adds that no one, including the Russian community in New Zealand, deserves to receive such a letter.
"Why bring hatred to the Russians who live here? They don't deserve it. They are ordinary people, they have no say in the government's decisions."
She believes the letter is the symptom of the division that she is seeing in New Zealand's society, exacerbated by years of the pandemic and the anxiety is has brought onto people.
The Bolivian woman is hopeful that Kiwis can remain the caring, friendly people she always saw them as.
"If there's any way you can, just bring peace to your heart," she said.
"I don't want that person to think he or she is winning. I want them to know that good people will bring peace and restore our community with peace. When I came to NZ it was a friendly country, people cared about others.
"We need to restore peace, everywhere, including in our backyard."
Police confirmed it is investigating the anonymous letter left for Atkinson at her Snells Beach address.
"Police can confirm a complaint is being assessed around a letter of concern delivered to a Snells Beach address," a spokesperson told the Herald.
Inquiries into the letter are underway. "Anyone with information that may assist our inquiries can contact Police on 105 quoting the file number 220407/8597."
Atkinson is not the only non-Russian migrant to have been the target of hatred in New Zealand since the war started in Ukraine.
A friend of Atkinson's, who asked to stay anonymous, says she too has been targeted, including being called "Russian b***h", even though she is from Macedonia.
"For me it's different but people here think [Russian and Macedonian] are similar," the woman, who lives in west Auckland, told the Herald.
"I've been here in New Zealand since I was 16. Targeting me is bullying. Even if we were Russian this shouldn't happen," she added.
The woman believes she has been targeted simply because, for those who don't know any better, her surname may sound Russian.
"It's just horrible, this war has divided people in New Zealand," the woman, who has been in New Zealand for more than 25 years, said.
"I have a 12-year-old son. I worry about him being targeted because of his surname too. It's been horrible," the woman says, adding she can only imagine what Russian people are dealing with in New Zealand.
