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A racist and fatphobic letter-writer couldn’t deal with the Black joy one Florida family was showcasing after their daughters’ graduation.

According to NBC News, the family decorated the outside of their home with posters of their twin daughters Xanah and Xarah. Then, on Thursday, David Sproul said his family found an anonymous letter in their mailbox demanding the posters be removed.

“Don’t you think enough is enough? It’s time to take those hideous posters of that ugly fat black girl down off your house,” the letter read. “What a disgrace to the neighborhood. In fact, your entire brood is a disgrace to the neighborhood. Consider moving to a ‘hood’ of your kind. Your neighbors are watching you!”

Sproul told NBC News that he was shocked by the letter.

“I would say that was coldblooded because it was directed about kids,” he said. “Even if it wasn’t about race, to do something like that to a child, say something like that to children is terrible.”

Sproul said he and his family have resided in the Timber Creek Plantation neighborhood in Yulee, which is about 25 miles north of Jacksonville, for five years. They said they haven’t experienced any similar racist incidents before.

 

Sproul’s wife, Toya, posted the letter on her Facebook page labeling the anonymous writer a “coward.”

“Racism is alive but we ain’t scared!!!! This showed up in my mailbox today,” she wrote in a Thursday post.

Sproul said he allowed his daughters to read the letter not too long after it arrived and the two “didn’t let it bother them.”

“They realized that the person who wrote it didn’t even know them, so they kind of disregarded it instantly,” Sproul explained. The family notified the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office and a spokeswoman for the department said the incident is being investigated.

“We at the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office do not tolerate racism and hate crimes in our county,” Undersheriff Roy Henderson explained in a statement. “This is out of character for Nassau County and we will continue to investigate this incident. We are proud of the Sproul twins’ accomplishments and hope to get to the bottom of this soon.”

The family is continuing to uplift their daughters despite the negativity. Xanah and Xarah both want to be doctors and they’ll be attending Saint Leo University in Florida for the pre-med program, according to Sproul. He added that the two received scholarships from a local program they were involved with.

“Although they are very accomplished young ladies and they do work very hard… at the same time, this didn’t happen to two accomplished young women. This happened to two young Black women,” Sproul said. “The person who did this didn’t know that they had any accomplishments, didn’t know their work ethic in any way. This happened to two humans, and it shouldn’t have happened at all.”

A drive-by parade is being organized for Xanah and Xarah on Thursday, according to a Facebook event page that has received over 360 responses. Sproul said the family has also received supportive messages from people all over the world, including in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

“The positivity that came out of something so negative is really good to see,” said Sproul.

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Young Black Scholars Are Called ‘Ugly’ In Racist Letter After Graduation  was originally published on newsone.com