It is already violating enough to have your car broken into and your possessions taken, but imagine being faced with racist slurs keyed into your vehicle on top of it all.
That’s exactly what happened to Jacquelyn and Dave Archie, a Black couple from North Buffalo, N.Y., according to WKBW.
The incident occurred over the weekend when the Archie family walked to their minivan only to find their tires slashed and the vehicle keyed with the n-word and other slurs.
“You never think you’re going to walk outside and this is what you’re going to see,” Jacquelyn Archie told the news station.
According to a GoFundMe page for the family, thousands of dollars in cash were taken from the vehicle and brand new toys that were meant to be Christmas gifts for their kids—that is, all the toys except for a black Barbie.
The couple filed a report with Buffalo Police immediately.
“How did they know that this particular vehicle belonged to an African American family?” Jacquelyn Archie added. “I didn’t feel safe.”
The incident, as horrid as it is, has brought the community together. Neighbors are rallying around the family and offering their support.
“You have to make a conscious decision to choose love over hate,” Archie said. “As much as it hurt, I try to continue to look at the bright side of it.”
“We’ve had people who we’ve never met reach out to us and show their disgust with what happened,” she added. “That means more to me than what someone wrote on my vehicle.”
