Family receive hate-filled racist letter from ‘Santa’ after erecting black St Nick inflatable
Chris Kennedy received the bigoted note after decorating his garden with a black inflatable figure of the festive favorite
A stunned family received a hate-filled note from ‘Santa Claus’ after erecting a black inflatable of the festive favorite in their front garden. Chris Kennedy was appalled to receive the letter at his home in North Little Rock, Arkansas, on Monday. It read: ‘Please remove your n***o Santa Claus decoration.
‘Do not try to deceive children into believing I am a n***o. 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 a laughing stock of the neighborhood.’
The missive continued: ‘Obviously your values are not those of the Lakewood area and maybe you should move to a neighborhood out east with the rest of your racist kind. Yours truly, Santa.’ The back of the letter featured a file photo of a santa in a red and white outfit.
Chris erected the garden inflatable on November 1, and says this week’s letter left him ‘extremely angry.’ He shared what had happened on Facebook – and has been met with an outpouring of support from neighbors.
One supporter who drove past as TV station KARK filmed shouted ‘We love your black santa.’
Another told of how she had driven six miles to back the Kennedy family, and told Chris: ‘We just drove from Sherwood to let you know, that I hope and pray that you do not take him down, because children around here need to see him.’
Chris says he has been galvanized by the warm wishes, and has no plans to remove the santa. He fills his garden with decorations and hopeful messages each Christmas to cheer up neighbors.
Chris said: ‘The children love it and that’s what Christmas is about, it’s about children.’
The letter Chris received claimed to have been sent by the local neighborhood association, although bosses there deny all knowledge of it.
An investigation to try and identify the sender continues.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk
For more stories like this, check our news page