#Neighbors put up black Santas to support man who got racist letter

In one Little Rock, Arkansas, neighborhood, Christmas decorations speak volumes for Chris Kennedy.

The Lakewood resident, who is black, was stunned last month to receive an anonymous letter cruelly attacking him for putting a large, inflatable black Santa Claus on his front lawn.

“Please remove your negro Santa. You should not try to deceive children into believing that I am a negro,” said the letter, which was signed, “Santa Claus.”

But then word of the divisive prank spread through Lakewood — and black Santas started showing up on lawns in solidarity.

“I ordered the same one, and so did the Jones, and so did the Ketinas, and the Kellers next door got one,” Chip Welsch told CBS News.  “I thought it was a nice way to tell one of our neighbors that we weren’t like that.”

“I think you have to speak out against racism, and I think the letter is very, very racist,” Cheryl said.

“And it really kind of hurt my heart that someone in our neighborhood was sending something like that to one of our neighbors. I read the letter and I was like, get the biggest one you can find!”

While the racist letter still stuns him, Kennedy said the outpouring has definitely helped.

“You know when you break something,” he noted, “it tends to grow back stronger.”