A MEDICAL centre manager has been left fuming after being sent a letter from a neighbour saying his Black Lives Matter poster “doesn’t reflect well on the area.”
The anonymous neighbour even went to the effort of taking a photograph of Aj Shehata’s house and drawing a red circle around the poster to add into the letter.
Aj, 24, and his family could not believe their eyes when they opened up the letter at their home in Sutton, South London yesterday.
The Cheam suburb busybody typed a letter saying they feel the poster was a protest against their neighbourhood instead of in support for the world wide campaign.
And the mystery moaner even stated “young black lives taken these days are by young blacks themselves.”
The passive aggressive note ends with a statement “congratulating” the family on their “marvellous” looking house which they describe as an asset to the area.
But even then the person takes a pop at the BLM poster by adding “apart from your sign”.
Aj shared an image of the letter on Twitter yesterday after it posted through their door.
The letter, dated 9 May 2021, read: “Dear Sirs, Whilst I applaud your support for Black Lives Matter, personally, as a local resident, I rather feel as if it’s a protest message to your neighbours, and neighbourhood, implying that we need to change the way we think.
“That is not the case; we are all on the same side.
“I do feel the notice doesn’t reflect well upon the area – imagine if we all put up notices in our windows to visibly show our support for good causes, how would South Cheam look?
“Sadly, many of the young black lives taken these days are by young blacks themselves – hopefully one day will change.
“Lastly, may I congratulate you on a marvellous looking house which is a real asset to the local area – it has been very tastefully designed (apart from your sign).
The A4 letter ends with “Kind regards” but doesn’t include any name or signature from the person responsible for it.
Aj’s post has been attracted more than 14,000 likes, 3,000 retweets and over 1,000 comments from outraged followers.
@SparkAmdromeda said: “Just reread that, saw the line blaming black deaths on other black people which is a completely ludicrous thing to say about a BLM sign, and just screams they want it down because they think it reflects on them. Make it BIGGER.”
@korejay said: “I would pay a graffiti artist to spray paint BLM across the entire house if I got this letter through the post.”
@derftlll said: “The person was trying to say ‘I’m not a racist but I am a racist’.”
@brynstar7 added: “‘Imagine if we all put notices up in our windows to visibly show our support for good causes.’
“I dunno sounds pretty damn okay to me? I like to know that my neighbors like good things.”
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralised political and social movement protesting against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.
Black Lives Matter protests happened across the world in June after George Perry Floyd Jr. an African American man was murdered by police during an arrest.
After a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis.
Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
Speaking today Aj said: “My dad opened and read the letter over and over again saying ‘What the hell?’
“It’s so creepy and a bit scary. It’s actually quite sad that someone felt the need to spend time taking a picture and writing a letter.
“The sign had been up since the BLM protests in June but the letter only arrived last weekend.
“Since getting the letter we have put others up in the other windows. I have also ordered a large BLM banner for the roof.
“Not to be petty, but one to let the person who wrote the letter know they can’t tell me what I can and can’t do in my own house and two for the cause and the principle.
“We shared it to a group chat of neighbors and they were fuming too and branded whoever is behind the letter as cowards.”
The 24-year-old described South Cheam, South London as a “very white” neighbourhood and said he has been a victim of racism in the area before.
