FAST FACTS:
(Memphis 1/12/2010) The 1994 Buick has been parked in Triciena Green's Cordova driveway for years. It's a car for her teenagers.
No one complained until Monday, when Green's son found a handwritten note in the mailbox.
"I kinda glared back at it again to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing," says 17 year old Sean Green.
It told the family to move the old junk car.
But that wasn't all. In disbelief, Sean showed it to his mother.
"Put the car in your garage or send it to the junk yard," his mother read from the letter.
Among the complaints about a junky garage and a vehicle on the street, Triciena was shocked to find several racial comments
"That's why you people should stay in your own hood per say. Colored people, are you on Section 8? Why don't you just move?" she read.
"I was mad...ooooh I was so mad. Because I said I thought we had just got beyond this. Racism still exists, but I thought we had got maybe beyond this," says Triciena Green.
The letter was signed 'Someone in the neighborhood'.
"Whoever wrote the letter is nit picking. I have neighbors that have boats in their yard in the summer time in the driveway," says Triciena.
The family's lived here 9 years and get along well with neighbors who are also surprised.
"It's shocking to see words like that in this day and age. You just don't expect to see that, especially from people you think you know in the neighborhood." says neighbor Scott Palmer.
"I think it's terrible. I think it's terrible to get a threatening letter," says Irving Evans, another neighbor.
The Greens filed a police report and plan to get to the bottom of it.
"If they found out who did it, I am definitely pressing charges." says Triciena.
The Greens say it may be hard for officers to track down who wrote the note, but the charges could be serious, especially if the crime is considered hate mail.
And putting anything in someone's mailbox could be a federal offense.
- Racial note left in Cordova family's mailbox
- The note complains about cars parked at the family's home
- The shocked and angry family calls police
(Memphis 1/12/2010) The 1994 Buick has been parked in Triciena Green's Cordova driveway for years. It's a car for her teenagers.
No one complained until Monday, when Green's son found a handwritten note in the mailbox.
"I kinda glared back at it again to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing," says 17 year old Sean Green.
It told the family to move the old junk car.
But that wasn't all. In disbelief, Sean showed it to his mother.
"Put the car in your garage or send it to the junk yard," his mother read from the letter.
Among the complaints about a junky garage and a vehicle on the street, Triciena was shocked to find several racial comments
"That's why you people should stay in your own hood per say. Colored people, are you on Section 8? Why don't you just move?" she read.
"I was mad...ooooh I was so mad. Because I said I thought we had just got beyond this. Racism still exists, but I thought we had got maybe beyond this," says Triciena Green.
The letter was signed 'Someone in the neighborhood'.
"Whoever wrote the letter is nit picking. I have neighbors that have boats in their yard in the summer time in the driveway," says Triciena.
The family's lived here 9 years and get along well with neighbors who are also surprised.
"It's shocking to see words like that in this day and age. You just don't expect to see that, especially from people you think you know in the neighborhood." says neighbor Scott Palmer.
"I think it's terrible. I think it's terrible to get a threatening letter," says Irving Evans, another neighbor.
The Greens filed a police report and plan to get to the bottom of it.
"If they found out who did it, I am definitely pressing charges." says Triciena.
The Greens say it may be hard for officers to track down who wrote the note, but the charges could be serious, especially if the crime is considered hate mail.
And putting anything in someone's mailbox could be a federal offense.
