‘You Should Not Have Left There’: Racist Shirts Left At Black Families’ Homes in NY

New York 4

A welcome T-shirt came with an unwelcome message to some Black families in a Westchester County town.

An unofficial “Welcome to Dobbs Ferry” shirt was left at the home of three Black families, with the front of the shirt seeming harmless — but on the back was written something that has angered many in the small town.

“You came here from there because you didn’t like there, and now you want to change here to be like there. We are not racist, phobic, or anti whatever-you-are, we simply like here the way it is and many of us were actually born here and stayed because it is not like there, wherever there was,” the long message on the back of the shirt read. “You are welcome here with open arms! But please stop trying to make here like there. If you want here to be like there, you should not have left there to come here. Please love Dobbs Ferry as we do and please do your best to leave it just as you found it.”