Whitehall police investigating racially charged letter sent to day care

[GMDino]

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/whitehall/mc-nws-whitehall-daycare-racist-letter-20171006-story.html

 

Quote:Whitehall police are investigating a racially charged letter sent to a township day care center where shaken staff members have been taking extra security precautions since early this week.

Dominique McKelley, owner of Bridge 2 Creative Learning Center in Whitehall, said an envelope addressed to her arrived Tuesday with no return address.

Inside were two identical letters — one addressed to her and another to one of her workers — urging the center to fire one of its black workers because of her dark skin color. The letter was posted on social media by staff who condemned its content, and has since gone viral.

“This is not OK,” McKelley said, her voice occasionally wavering with emotion. “It’s gone too far — this hatred. Now you’re targeting a day care center?”

Whitehall police Chief Michael Marks said he has never seen a letter so offensive in his 20 years in police work.

“It’s disturbing. This is not something you want to see in your community,” Marks said. “This is something we as a police department are going to take very seriously.”

Marks said such a letter could carry harassment and ethnic intimidation charges, though he conceded locating the sender is tricky. He said there have been no similar incidents reported in the township.

The day care already has security measures in place for the safety of its children, but McKelley said staff is on added alert. Staff members are leaving the facility in pairs so no one is alone.

McKelley briefed her staff on the letter and said she was nervous about revealing it to the worker who was unnamed in the letter but believed to be the target.

“I didn’t want her to have to read something like this,” she said.

McKelley choked up recounting the experience.

“She started crying. She looked scared,” McKelley said of her employee. “She said she was going to quit. But I convinced her to stay.
This has gotten everyone here so fired up.

“To see that look on her face when she read it … it just gets to you.”

The writer of the letter, purported to be a parent, threatened to pull his or her children from the center because the worker’s skin was too dark.

McKelley said she has several African-American staff members and students at the day care, which serves more than 130 children.

But she does not believe the letter came from a parent.

She described the day care center, established in 2009, as a close-knit community whose members have rallied together since word of the letter reached social media.

Cyruss Quaye, a staff member of five years, said the letter was alarming to the entire staff.

"I couldn't believe it," said Quaye, who lives in Whitehall. "I thought this can't be real. This has to be fake. It made my stomach turn."

Quaye said the staff rallied around their co-worker, who is quiet and devoted to the kids in her care.

"Here, we treat our staff like family. We've all been trying to put a smile on her face," Quaye said. "This has assured me how strong she is. I look up to her for standing up and staying here. This is where she belongs."

Tyrone Russell, coordinator for racial and ethnic justice for Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, said the country’s current climate has made speech such as the letter common though most people still find it unacceptable.

“I know the culture of the United States right now is very divided. I can see someone like this playing on this division,” Russell said. “Most people don’t think like this but there are always knuckleheads that want to stir the pot.”

Russell said it was important for law enforcement to condemn such remarks, even if the likelihood of finding the culprit is slim.

“This is what I call invisible violence. It starts when things are said and before something gets done,” Russell said. “If nothing gets done, these people feel like they can take it to the next step.”

Condemnation sends a powerful message, he said.

Dan Bosket, director of the Community Action Development Corp. of Allentown, said recent violence in the nation makes it understandable that such a letter would worry the workers, but the community should resist any intimidation.

“We have to condemn this and not buy into it,” Bosket said.

McKelley said she and her staff took to social media with the letter in the hopes of exposing a stream of ugliness she worries is poisoning the country.

Russell said the consensus from those who’ve viewed the letter should be encouraging and is the first step toward fighting back against such views.

“I think what makes people like this angry is when a majority of folks come out and say this is not how we want to raise our kids and say this is not the world we want to live in,” Russell said. “I think the masses are typically quiet, and though they may not like when people do this kind of thing, they don’t say anything. And so when they speak out, it’s so much more powerful.”

So some knuckle head? A true racist?  Ignore them so they'll go away? 

Apparently the Trump supporters are already pushing the conspiracy that it was written by one of the day care workers.