A Seattle community is outraged after flyers with a racial slur and derogatory images of Black people started to appear on Black Lives Matter posters Saturday.
“You can’t have law and order and n—–s too,” the flyers read.
They pictured caricature-style photos of Black men beating white people, and the flyers were posted in Columbia City, according to social media users.
M’kayla Powell, a Black woman, told Q13 News Columbia City is a diverse neighborhood in Seattle and the sign should offend everyone.
“Black lives do matter,” she said. “It should be offensive to everyone. Not just us black community, but the whites, the Asians, the Mexicans. Anyone who is over here in this neighborhood.”
Genessa Krasnow, who found one of the flyers, told Q13 News she thinks her family was specifically targeted because her wife is a person of color.
“It is a direct assault to people of color,” Krasnow said. “My wife came back in the house, tears in her eyes.”
Krasnow said she has purchased 20 added Black Lives Matter signs and the community is holding a Love Thy Neighbor event Sept. 29 between noon and 3 p.m. at the intersection of Rainier Ave South and South Ferdinand Street in Seattle.
Krasnow said she knows her neighbors and many of them have Black Lives Matter signs that have been up for a few years.
One of those neighbors, David Keyes, told Q13 News he’s Jewish and considers the signs “a threat to me as well.”
“I don’t know what kind of violence they want to perpetrate on me or my friends of color, or my neighbors who also care about equity,” he said.
Seattle Police are investigating the incident as a bias crime, Q13 News reported.
Detective Mark Jamieson told the news station the flyers were created to intimidate or create fear in someone through racist literature and images.
