Woman 'disgusted and saddened' after finding racist photo taped to her front door
A woman is furious after someone taped a racist black-and-white photo of people protesting and displaying a sign that said “Go Back to Africa, Negroes” on her front door.
Lisa Sproat, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., said her nanny and son found the photo outside their McDowell Mountain Ranch home on June 20 sometime between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Since then, she has taken action by speaking out on her own, and is determined to shut down racism in her community.
According to the Arizona Republic, Sproat, who is white, believes the racist incident happened because she, and her African American husband, are in the process of adopting two African American children who they have been fostering since April.
“The community we live in talks about how tolerant we are…but in this gated community, we have hate crimes,” she said.
The oncologist has been busy taking action on her own. She told the Arizona Republic that she spoke at a community meeting the evening she found the note, and is “proposing community education and possibly sponsoring a community run designed to take a stand against racism.” Sproat also said that she organized a rally with residents outside a McDowell Mountain Ranch community center the next morning.
She also intends to create a task force and organize an event to battle discrimination, the Arizona Republic reported. “I will not be silent and nobody should be silent when this type of discrimination and racism occurs,” she said. “No matter what your race is.”
She added that there may be a silver lining to the racist events that transpired, and the photo has helped spur change.
“My take on all of this is that the person that did this wanted to do something hateful and what they have done is actually inspired many people move forward to create change,” she told the Arizona Republic. “So, I’m thankful for what that person did because we’re not going to allow it to happen again in our community.”
Sproat launched an Instagram account for the cause, urging people to say no and stand up against discrimination.
In a video posted to the account on Friday, she said “we are all people in this country, we all matter,” and rallied the people around her by telling them that “today is day one — and it is the start of our community saying no.”
Members of the public applauded Sproat’s efforts and thanked her for taking a stand.
“Thank you Lisa, for sharing what happened and for bringing it to the attention of as many people as possible! Hearing what happened breaks my heart,” one person commented on the post.
“I hope what you’re doing turns into a movement,” another added. “The hate that is going on throughout this nation towards African Americans is horrible. I am elderly and have seen so much but this form of racism is truly scary. Thank you for standing up to the ugliness of racism. Bless you.”
Another person suggested that there could be a way to find out who was responsible for the photo by checking camera footage in the neighborhood.
“I’m disgusted and saddened actually outraged by the ignorance and lack of humanity that exists and survives,” the comment reads. “There has to be someone with a camera on that street.”
The Scottsdale Police Department tells Yahoo Lifestyle that they were contacted in reference to this incident and it is under investigation.
Lisa Sproat and representatives from the City of Scottsdale did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
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