CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Racist letters were placed in apartment complexes in the city, leaving residents worried about their safety and angry about the hateful messages.
After spending time with friends and family Thanksgiving evening, Deborah Smith returned to her townhouse near the 1000 block of Seibel Drive, where she noticed papers spewed across the parking lot. She opened one of the papers to find a letter using slurs toward Black people and other intimidating language allegedly from another tenant.
The Smiths are Black. Her daughter, Shayla, said she feared for her mother’s safety.
“You should feel safe in your own home,” Shayla Smith said. “I’m completely shocked. Our communities are becoming more and more diverse. And it’s exhausting that in 2022 we still need to have a discussion over race.”
According to a Cuyahoga Falls police report, tenants in the apartment complex across from Smith’s in the 800 block of Clyde Avenue also found letters on their property and filed a police report for “telecommunications harassment.”
Police said no one has been charged for the letters because of “lack of evidence and conflicting stories.”
Smith and tenants who asked to not be identified said they felt uneasy knowing the person who wrote the letters has not been arrested.
“To know that nothing can really be done at this time was a little unsettling,” Shayla Smith said. “But I was happy to know that the authorities were already aware of the situation and that they were attempting to try to figure something out to come up with the potential solution.”
The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com spoke to a leasing office employee for the apartment complex on Seibel Drive. She confirmed there were no security videos on the property but did not want to provide a comment.
“There should be security on that property at all times,” Smith said. “What if somebody gets mugged? Or somebody gets robbed? There’s nothing we can do about that. Crime is happening in the suburbs, too.”
Smith said she is hoping that sharing about what happened will raise awareness of racism and inspire other people to speak out.
“The minute we don’t take something seriously, that’s when stuff like this happens,” she said. “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, OK, it will never happen to me.’ But to have this happen to me, to my mom, in our own community in Cuyahoga Falls, really shook me up.”
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