An Arkansas man says he received a racist letter after he set up Black Santa Claus decorations in his front yard. The hate-filled letter — signed 'Santa Claus' — accused Chris Kennedy of deceiving children into believing that Santa was Black and that Kennedy was "jealous" of the Caucasian race.
Kennedy, a resident of Lakewood in North Little Rock, said he received the letter on Tuesday. He detailed the contents of the letter in a Facebook Live video, which went viral in the neighborhood.
(Warning: Racist Language)
The letter read:
Please remove your negro Santa Claus yard decoration. You should not try to deceive children into believing that I am a negro. I am a Caucasian (white man, to you) and have been for the past 600 years. Your being jealous of my race is no excuse for your dishonesty. Besides that, you are making yourself the laughing stock of the neighborhood. Obviously, your values are not that of the Lakewood area and maybe you should move to a neighborhood out east with the rest of your racist kind.
Yours truly, Santa Claus.
Kennedy said he never had problems with Christmas decorations since he moved to Lakewood three years ago. He told WKYC that the letter sent through the mail.
"I saw that something was coming from the Lakewood Property Owners Association, but I thought it was kind of odd," Kennedy said, adding that he figured the letter was not from the association because of its logo.
The association also clarified that it did not send the letter to Kennedy. "We don't want the people that wrote that letter in the neighborhood. That's what we don't want," Evan Blake, the association's executive director, said.
Following Kennedy's viral video, the Lakewood neighborhood rallied in his support. "Some of the awesome things that the community has dropped off. The chocolate chip cookies are especially delicious," he wrote in a Facebook post.
