Home robbery is enough to upset anyone. But while some people may call the police after such an incident, a Michigan woman decided to do something totally different.
A black woman who said her home in Flint, Mich., was robbed, posted a sign using a racial slur outside of the house in an attempt to send a strong message, Abc12.com reports. The woman, who declined to give her name, wrote something her neighbors would never forget: "This house is a reflection of ignorant n---as."
The woman, who has two children in college, said she intended to use the house to help the homeless. She said the thieves ripped out the windows so they could get scrap metal, perpetuating a culture of crime the homeowner said she is fed up with.
"They're hustling out here," she told the news network. "It's a domino effect and yet we sit back and do nothing in the community."
But her neighbors had mixed feelings. While some said they understood her frustration as victims of crime in the past, others felt her reaction was inappropriate.
"It's ignorant of anyone to write that," Martin Beard, a resident on the block, told Mlive.com.
The local NAACP branch agreed. Chapter president Frances Gilcreast said she felt the sign signified a greater display of ignorance than the robbery, Mlive.com reports.
"That's a word that has long been offensive," she said. "I'm just appalled that in 2011 these things continue to happen."
But the woman disagreed and stood by her choice to post the sign.
"I know who I am," she said. "I know where I'm going so the word does not define me. Not at all."