Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Family sent racist note demanding they take down pictures of their twin daughters celebrating their graduation

Xanah and Xarah Sproul had recently graduated from high school with honours

Matt Mathers
Wednesday 29 July 2020 13:58 BST
Comments
Family sent racist note demanding they take down pictures of their twin daughters celebrating their graduation

A black family in Florida was reportedly sent a racist note demanding that pictures celebrating their twin daughters’ graduation be removed.

David Sproul, who lives in Yulee, returned from work on Thursday to find an anonymously typed letter had been dropped through the letter of the family’s home, media reports said.

“It’s time to take those hideous posters of that ugly fat black girl down off your house,” the letter read.

Mr Sproul and his wife Toya had decorated their property with graduation photos of their twin daughters, Xanah and Xarah, both of whom had recently finished high school.

Both girls graduated from Yulee High School with honours and were section leaders in the school band and members of the National Honor Society, their dad said.

“What a disgrace to the neighbourhood,” the letter goes on. “In fact, your entire brood is a disgrace to the neighbourhood.”

“Consider moving to a ‘hood’ of your kind. Your neighbours are watching you!”

Sproule said that other families in the neighbourhood had decorated their homes with graduation photos but his family was the only one to receive hate mail.

He and his wife were left angry and confused after receiving the hate mail. The family has been living Yulee, about 25 miles north of Jacksonville for around five years and has never been targetted before.

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

Ms Sproul, who thought her husband was “joking” when he first told her about the letter, later filed a police report.

“Racism is alive but we ain’t scared!!!! This showed up in my mailbox today,” she wrote when sharing a picture of the letter on Facebook.

Nassau County Sheriff’s Office said it is continuing to investigate the incident.

A spokesperson said: “We at the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office do not tolerate racism and hate crimes in our county,” Undersheriff Roy Henderson said 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 has since been inundated with messages of support from around the world.

Locals have organised a car parade to show their support for the family and to celebrate the twins’ achievements, according to a Facebook page.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in