Mecklenburg County Commissioner Vilma Leake has asked the FBI to investigate after she and several other local officials of color received a racist and threatening letter.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the letter said “black Democrats should be tarred and feathered and run out of town” and sent “screaming to the concentration camps.” It threatened that “someone” may “blow up” a statue of Martin Luther King Jr., and also said, “I would love it if they would blow you up.”
The letter invoked the name of President Trump and said, “You need to go back to where you came from.”
At least 12 local elected officials of color have received similar letters in recent days. They include other county commissioners, Charlotte City Council members, and the chair of the CMS board. Speaking on WFAE's "Charlotte Talks" on Wednesday, Mayor Vi Lyles said her office had received a racist letter, too.
City Council member Braxton Winston told WCNC he assumed the intent of the letter writer "was to intimidate."
The FBI told WFAE that agents "are aware" of the letters and have been in touch with Charlotte-Mecklenburg police "in case information related to a federal violation is uncovered."