An Ohio woman is afraid for her life after she received a threatening, racist letter. Shortly, after she received the letter, her truck was torched.
It had been three weeks since Nicole Rhodes began suffering the numerous bigoted taunts of her neighbors, but she did not fear for her life until she received this threatening message taped to her beauty salon: “We don’t want you here black b**ch. Don’t get burnt up in there.”
Then, on Monday, her pickup truck went up in flames outside that same beauty salon.
“This can’t be real. This just can’t be real,” Rhodes told the Daily News on Wednesday. “It just cannot be this serious. Black skin just can’t be this serious. Black skin just can’t make you go destroying property.”
“I thought it was nothing. My neighbors are prejudiced,” she said. “I’m used to people hating me — but now it’s because of my skin. It’s the same kind of hatred.”
Youngstown Fire Department Investigator Alvin Ware said, following an investigation, that “there’s something going on” after it was determined that the fire was set to the truck purposefully, reports WKBN. However, there are not yet any leads in the case.
In the meantime, Rhodes has set up 16 surveillance cameras and is distancing herself from the community as an extra precaution.