President Donald Trump didn’t come out of nowhere. He got to his present position thanks to the support of racists across the United States — including, no doubt, Indiana woman Deborah Cantwell. Upon a black family purchasing a home near her own, she took it upon herself to make sure they felt unwelcome. The father in the family found a racist letter affixed to their new home’s front door, which appeared before they’d actually moved in but not before the whole family had been spending some time at the house.
The letter, which Cantwell wrote, made wild claims about health problems related to black neighbors and threatened the family over their black son, whose age has not been apparently released.
The letter read, in part:
‘THIS IS A WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD-some people find N—— Stressful… YOUR N—– KID IS NOT WELCOME… YOU CAN SELL YOUR HOUSE AND MAKE MONEY ON IT RIGHT NOW. BY THE WAY HOPE YOU HAVE DEEP POCKETS.’
Cantwell eventually confessed to writing the letter in a sit-down with police, and she was subsequently jailed on charges of intimidation and criminal mischief. She also faces a protection order that prohibits her from contacting the family she targeted ever again.
She’s not exactly sorry, though. She finds it difficult to imagine that she did anything wrong.
She told authorities:
‘I was just trying to let them know that they weren’t really… welcome as far as us… I just needed to let off some steam and… I’m not a violent person so I didn’t think it was any big deal… I am sorry that it caused so much ruckus, but I feel like I released some anger writing that letter.’
Besides her letter, she — a 63-year-old woman — also toilet-papered the family’s yard.
Although investigators originally believed juveniles had perpetrated the incident, besides the aforementioned confession, they also obtained text messages that Cantwell sent someone about supposed health problems associated with black neighbors. She said they increased her stress levels because “the blacks get away with it every time” — it meaning some sort of violence.
The home’s seller informed the father in the targeted family that Cantwell had been expressing some concern about a black family moving in, and he subsequently tipped off police that she was likely the perpetrator. In the wake of the incident, the family is raising money via a GoFundMe page.
The incident is hardly alone. Across the country, stories have popped up of racists harassing minorities through means ranging from attempting to run them off the road to calling police on them just because they’re gathered somewhere the racist doesn’t want them to be.
Donald Trump has stoked fears that there’s some kind of threat out there to the Western — as in white — way of life, bemoaning immigration at nearly every turn. He’s gone so far as to reportedly entertain the idea of completely suspending the practice of admitting people for asylum at the United States’ southern border. His administration had already tightened the rules for obtaining asylum, excluding interpersonal violence from the list of acceptable drivers.
At present, the nation continues to reel from a couple of high profile manifestations of his rhetoric, including a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue and a string of attempted bomb attacks on leading Democrats. Trump still continues down his same path, though.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
