A man has shared a passive-aggressive letter his family received from a neighbor over their BLM sign.
On Thursday, May 13, a Twitter user named Aj Shehata took to the platform to post a picture of the irate letter he had received, after a neighbor of his took umbrage over a sign in his window supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Shehata, who hails from the suburb of Cheam in South London and is of Sudanese descent, posted an image of the note, and captioned it: "Someone really took a picture of my house, circled the BLM sign in my window and sent this letter... [sic]"
The letter in question reads:
"Dear sirs,
"Whilst I applaud your support for Black Lives Matter, personally, as a local resident, I rather feel as if it’s a protest message to your neighbours, and neighbourhood, implying that we need to change the way we think.
"That is not the case; we are all on the same side."
It continues:
"I do feel the notice doesn’t reflect well upon the area – imagine if we all put up notices in our windows to visibly show our support for good causes, how would South Cheam look?
"Sadly, many of the young black lives taken these days are by young blacks themselves – hopefully one day that will change.
“Lastly, may I congratulate you on a marvellous looking house which is a real asset to the local area – it has been very tastefully designed (apart from your sign)."
Shehata's post quickly picked up a lot of attention from other social media users, who were outraged over the note's perceived tone and sense of entitlement.
Supporting Shehata's right to free expression and protest, one Twitter user wrote: "Someone in my neighborhood left an anonymous letter like this for a neighbor with a BLM sign.
"She shared it with next door and within a week, 10 more had popped up."
A second commenter then wrote: "Quadruple down. We hesitated putting one up b/c it felt like virtue signaling to my 'woke' neighbors.
"But then I had an Uber driver who told me that he felt a tiny bit safer in my town b/c of the signs & we went & got one the next day."
Another Cheam resident then stated: "I’m so sorry. I live round the corner, when I get home tonight I’m going to print some signs of my own and stick them in the front bedroom windows. Not everyone in south Cheam is a snobby bigot."
Finally, someone else wrote: "How is having that sign reflection on your community? If you think seeing a BLM sign is directed towards you and your mentality... then it is YOU who has a have a problem.
"They just want to forget about what is happening now and that sign reminds them. That pic is creepy btw. [sic]"
Commenting on the note in a later interview with The Metro, Shehata stated: "To receive a passive-aggressive letter with some seriously wrong racial undertones, a picture of our house with the BLM sign circled, was not just upsetting but also quite scary."
"Everyone in the house is shocked, however, this has just spurred us on to do more for the movement and to not back down."