Couple's black Santa was slashed while their neighbours' white Santas were left untouched

A couple in Oregon have suggested that the their eight foot inflatable black Santa was vandalised in an incident that might have been racially motivated.

The African American couple has lived in the area just outside Portland for 21 years, but they have never displayed the large inflatable black Santa Claus before. None of the other decorations they have ever put up in previous years have been vandalised in this way.

But when Fritz and Belinda Richard looked in their garden this week, they found their inflatable black Santa had been deflated and crumpled. When they looked closer, they saw it’d been slashed.

Fritz Richard told The Oregonian:

Somebody went out of their way to do this.

Who slashes a Santa?

Richard’s wife, Belinda, wondered if the slashing was racially motivated because other Santas in the neighbourhood had not been vandalised.

Belinda Richard said:

There are white Santas all over our neighbourhood.

They aren’t getting slashed.

Bethany has a population of around 20,000 residents and only 1 per cent are black or African American, so the couple are certainly in the racial minority.

The Richards said they are considering buying a replacement and they have also found support from neighbours on social media.

H/T: Newsweek

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