Fake or real?
This is a thing from October last year but I’m curious about it. A friend posted it on Facebook yesterday (probably not noticing the date – it happens to all of us), and there are a lot of angry comments and a lot of comments saying it looks fake. My reaction when first reading it was it’s fake. I still think it’s fake. I’m curious about what others think.
A daycare center received this letter. This is trump’s America. 😥😡
The text of the letter:
Hello I am writing this as a concerned parent and friend!
So most of us noticed you have a black girl working for the daycare. Our problem is she’s too dark most of the kids is scared of her. I am only telling you this because some of us are planning to pull our kid form the daycare shes an eye sore. I see you’re trying to touch all of the nationalities but maybe hire a light skinned black she would blend more and not look like a “NANNY”. She’s not the first thing a child nor the parents want to see soon as they walk in the daycare. So the choice is yours! Choose wisely remember WE THE PARENTS PAY YOUR MORTAGE. I hope you make her aware shes not wanted. I’m sending her a copy as well. However if she needs a job Mcdonalds is always hiring her kind. So work your magic and make it disappear!!!
P.S. Just trying “TO MAKE YOUR DAYCARE GREAT AGAIN”
Why do I think it’s fake? I’m not sure. Partly I think because the tone is wrong – too perky for what it’s saying. Too facetious for what it’s saying. It sounds too Milo-like, too 4chan-like. Not that the racism is fake, but I think the note is a provocation of some kind rather than a serious request.
Snopes reports the day care center confirmed getting the note:
Although it is not uncommon for nasty letters and other controversies to be faked by social media users for attention or viral fame, this appears to be genuine — at least to the extent that we reached out to the daycare center, who averred that they received the letter but didn’t know who sent it or why.
Sarah Wojcik, a reporter for the local Morning Call, told us that that police were also aware of the letter:
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’s 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.
If it is a fake that doesn’t make it any better – it’s a “real” fake and doubtless made the staff at that day care center feel horrible and threatened.
I’d lean into fake myself
It’s always fun to see my local paper in the national spotlight, I’m pretty sure I read about this last year. Usually the racism is about Puerto Ricans though as we have a larger than typical population here. As an aside I am always amused when racist dumbasses (I repeat myself) against immigration like to bring up PRs as a problem.
Yeah, it’s really an interesting question what exactly “fake” would mean here.
A few options:
1. A personal enemy (or “friend” playing a nasty practical joke) wrote it. I think this is quite possible because to me the writing and the duplicate copy for the employee seems specifically designed to hurt her rather than to accomplish the goal of getting her fired.
2. A non-parent, such as a teen older sibling, wrote it as a real-world 4chan-like troll. As Ophelia states, it reads like that style.
3. A racist parent actually wrote it. This to me seems the least likely, as I’d expect it to have a much different tone, but I suppose it’s possible they really felt that way but decided to clown it up (maybe had a few drinks before writing it?).
4. A fake written by someone looking to “prove” there’s a lot of racism out there. Probably the least likely, but that kind of thing has happened before.
All of these options have some fake aspect to them. As Ophelia says, designed to be a provocation.