TEARS: Matthew Fichamba, 14, prepared to give a speech on the importance of protecting immigrants like his father during public comment at an August 7 Burien City Council meeting, but became too emotional to continue reading. Credit: RYAN T. BELL

TEARS: Matthew Fichamba, 14, prepared to give a speech on the importance of protecting immigrants like his father during public comment at an August 7 Burien City Council meeting, but became too emotional to continue reading.

TEARS: Matthew Fichamba, 14, prepared to give a speech on the importance of protecting immigrants like his father during public comment at an August 7 Burien City Council meeting, but became too emotional to continue reading. RYAN T. BELL

The RV in Hugo Garcia’s neighborhood still bears faint traces of spray paint. Someone tried to scrub it clean, but the words left behind a rust-colored stain: “FUCKING MEXICANS.”

Garcia had to see the RV for himself to believe it—and when he did, he was shocked. He grew up in the Seattle suburb of Burien and speaks of his hometown with unabashed boosterism. Garcia’s father worked long hours in the community’s famed Mexican restaurant industry, a fact that swells his sense of civic pride. Hugo Garcia and his two brothers stayed in the area; one became an elementary school teacher, and the other two went to work for community development nonprofits.

“I want people to be aware: This is happening in a city 20 minutes from downtown Seattle,” Garcia said.

Sydney Brownstone writes about the environment, sexual assault, and general news for The Stranger. In 2017, her boss and Pulitzer winner Eli Sanders nominated her coverage of Seattle porn scammer Matt...