West Auckland cafe owner shocked at racist note left on car

The owner of a restaurant and cafe in west Auckland has been left shocked by a racist note left on the windscreen of his wife's vehicle.

"This is NZ Not Your country our land our carpark !!" the note said, in English but broken by the lack of punctuation.

It was left on the windscreen of Parviz Khorakchi's wife's car last Saturday morning, while she was busy working away at the family restaurant, Arum Restaurant, in Kelston, west Auckland.

Khorakchi, moved to New Zealand from Iran with his wife and two children, a boy and a girl, in early 2003. He says this is the first time he has ever encountered racism in New Zealand.

The family came in search of a better life and a brighter future for the children and, the dad says, they found it.

For the past 15 years, New Zealand has been this family's home and he says they never felt like outsiders and were always made to feel like part of the community.

"My boy and girl are adults now but they grew up here, went to school here, they are Kiwis," he says, still shaken by the incident.

"This is so disappointing, we are so upset," he adds.

"We park in that spot all the time, this had never happened before."

Khorakchi does not know who left the note and suspects it is fueled by jealousy. "Some people are jealous. We work seven days a week," he told the Herald.

The restaurant owner says the family work hard at the business, all week, despite a problem with his right leg making it difficult for him to walk with ease.

"I work hard, I don't expect government help, we are all New Zealand citizens and we never did anything wrong to the country, which is why this is really upsetting."

Khorakchi shared the note on Instagram and was met by support from fellow social media users.

"I've known you over 10 years you are more Kiwi than most," someone commented.

"We are all human beings," someone else said.