Moms Organize ‘Stand Up To Hate’ Play Date After Nanny Targeted By Racist Letter

Members of a Chicago community are coming together in support of a nanny who was targeted in a racist letter.

Their plan: a mass play date designed to “Stand Up to Hate.”

A week ago, an unstamped, unsigned letter to Heather DeJonker was found in her mailbox.

The letter concerned DeJonker’s African-American nanny, 24-year-old Ferrai Pickett, who has worked for the family since 2014, according to WGN-TV in Chicago.

The letter refers to Pickett by a racial slur, and one part of the brutally racist letter reads:

We do not need an infestation in our community. There are plenty educated Caucasian nannies available if you are willing to pay them accordingly…

Pickett hasn’t read the entire letter herself. Although she has experienced racism before, she admits being shocked to be the subject of such a letter.

“This is my first experience of racism on the job and in this neighborhood,” she told HuffPost. “It’s a quiet, diverse neighborhood. It’s always been welcoming, and I get along with all the moms.”

After receiving the letter, DeJonker was shocked, but not as much as her mother, who was the first one to read it.

“She was horrified. She called me at work and told me about it,” DeJonker told DNAInfo.com. “When I read the letter, it felt like a punch in the stomach. I was nauseous, and I was praying to God that Ferrai didn’t have to see it.”

DeJonker and Maria Ippolito, who also employs Pickett as a nanny, filed a police report, notified local politicians and installed security cameras.

Pickett, who has a degree in early childhood education, said she and the two moms also reflected on the best way to combat the hatred in their neighborhood.

“All of us are in education, and it felt like we could use this to teach the kids,” she told …

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