With Halloween quickly approaching, one grandmother in Detroit, Michigan is decorating her home with props and imagery inspired by real-life horrors experienced by black people in America. According to MLive, Larethia Haddon is using the hair-raising displays to shine some light on the horrors of racism, while inspiring a broader range of thought on the Black Lives Matters movement.
“We’re trying to do something positive instead of just having a dead body laying in the yard,” she said. “[We] want to get people to be a little more focused on the issues, what’s going on in the world. We need to stick together more. We need to come together. And if we don’t, this scene in my yard is going to be reality every single day.”
Haddon’s front yard is lined with six dummies portraying police shootings, slain children, the Flint water crisis, and more.
Last year, she strategically placed a dummy face-down in the grass, shocking some neighbors who called police thinking it was a real body.
This year, Haddon told MLive that she wants her displays to spark dialogue, rather than just shock. She encourages people to come into her yard to view the displays, welcoming strangers with open arms.
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She said her grandchildren helped come up with the idea by telling her,”We’re not afraid of monsters or the boogeyman. We’re afraid of what’s going on in the world right now.”
Haddon said she’s most affected by the Flint water crisis display, explaining that she doesn’t believe “anyone should have to live the way the people in Flint are being forced to live.”
She sets up the yard by 9 a.m. every morning and takes the decorations down by sunset, attracting a steady flow of crowds throughout the day, many who can’t help but slow down when driving past her house.
Haddon says her intention is not to “scare the hell out of anyone,” but instead to make a statement, and bring awareness to issues facing Michigan cities.
