Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Padricia Norfleet's Facebook page for her natural hair care business NaturalistaCosmetics.com has recently become the target of racist insults, images and videos since last Thursday. Ku Klux Klan cross-burning videos, inappropriate images and comments, such as [black women are] "nappy headed," "greasy" and "disgusting," are just a few of the abuses Norfleet has suffered since the assault on her page began almost a week ago.
The threats reached a new low, though, when one cowardly poster said:
"You [black women] deserve to be raped by white men."
Norfleet describes the insults further as being " ... very derogatory, hateful. [The insults are] about our beauty, what type of hair we have and about our heritage."
Virginia police took a report this past Sunday, and the case is currently being categorized as a computer harassment case, which warrants 12 months in jail or a $2,500 fine. If investigators determine that Norfleet and her co-owner are afraid for their lives, though, the case could be escalated to a hate or biased crime.
Of the racist abuse, Norfleet says:
"[Those messages] cut deep because that's a part of my history. My grandparents and great-grandparents were part of the slave movement, and this is what they had to endure. So having to see this up close and personal in 2011 is just mind blowing."