Upward social mobility can come with its own flaws, especially if you are black or interracial person as one may have to deal with some form of passive-aggressive racism. An interracial family in Raleigh, N.C, received an unsigned racist letter from a neighbor last week warning them not to openly express solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement or post any George Floyd posters in their yard.
According to WRAL, the letter blatantly told them to know their place in the neighborhood and not to get mixed up in ‘ghetto’ business.
“Please remember that the rest of us live in an upscale neighborhood and have spent the extra money to stay out of mixed neighborhoods and/or the ghetto.
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“No one wants trouble or any circumstance arising which could turn our neighborhood into a ‘semi-ghetto,’” the letter states.
“Please keep your husband and teenaged kids well behaved and orderly because no one is interested in your or their ‘struggles.’…
“Keep matters inside your own house and do your best to keep this area upscale and free of that element,” the letter continued. “Most of us would not hesitate to call the police if your kids or husband get unruly, so please be considerate of everyone else living amongst you.”
Some families in the Wakefield Plantation were appalled by the letter and expressed solidarity with the interracial family. Marianna Morin, a neighbor, said, “I couldn’t believe that someone in my neighborhood – that close to me – would have written something so mean.”
Another neighbor and family friend, Kate Pirrung, told WRAL that she was sad, horrified,appalled and disappointed in the content of the letter.
With the ongoing conversation on police brutality being centered around the outrageous and indiscriminate deaths of Black people, another neighbor Armand Morin, said the mention of police in the letter could only be a threat.
“In the end, underneath all the context, it was a threat: Don’t do this. We’ll report you. We’ll send people over to your house – the police in this particular incident.”
The family did not meet the racists with hatred, they rather responded by writing a note to everyone in the neighborhood.
“If you did not write this letter, we wanted you to be aware of what has happened in our neighborhood. If you are the person that wrote this letter, we will not be intimidated by your cowardly act and ignorance. We are happy to have a discussion regarding love, respect and racism if you have the courage,” the note states.
The family further addressed the issue by issuing a statement to WRAL News: “We want to acknowledge that this letter does not compare to some of the more dire circumstances many people find themselves in on a regular basis due to bigotry.
“However, it was shocking and ignorant. The outrage, support and kind words expressed to us by so many in our community have overpowered the hate expressed from the one person who wrote the letter.
“Our hope is for this to inspire respectful conversations and courageous self-examination about bias and racism. To the person who wrote the letter, we pray for your heart to be released from bitterness and filled with understanding and compassion for others. Black lives do matter.”
To fight racism at all levels everyone must understand the basic principle that we are all humans who are capable of loving and caring for everyone else regardless of skin tone anyone has.
