An Oregon family was shocked to discover that an inflatable black
Santa Claus on their front lawn had been slashed by vandals just 24 hours after they put it on display.
Fritz and Belinda Richard, who are African-American, have lived in Bethany, Ore., for 21 years. This year, they decided to add an inflatable black Santa Claus to their holiday decorations. On Wednesday, Fritz Richard installed the 8-foot-tall inflatable in their front yard, only to see it slashed multiple times 24 hours later.
Richard told Beaverton, Ore.,
KOIN 6 News that he woke up on Thursday and discovered the slashed Santa deflated on their front lawn.
“Looks like someone had a problem with our black Santa,” he wrote on Facebook. “I found him this morning, someone took a knife to him. Trump is really changing this country! Is this how you make America ‘great again’, with hate crimes?”