CHARLOTTE — Deborah McCullough said she discovered hateful messaging on the side of her west Charlotte home earlier this month and has been terrified since then.
[ Racist texts target Black residents in Carolinas, across U.S. ]
“I’m so scared because that’s my home, and I don’t know who did it, and I don’t know why,” said Deborah McCullough.
Her home has been stained with swastikas and homophobic and racial slurs for 20 days.
“I see it every day when I come home from work. Every day, I’m reminded of it,” she said.
She is Jewish and her daughter is part of the LGBTQ community.
“It’s terrifying that somebody hates me for who I am,” McCullough said. “You don’t know me, but you’re judging me. I know hate exists in the world, but it is different when it is directed at you, towards you, towards your family.”
It’s made her life unsettling.
“I’m having panic attacks because I know somebody was outside my home, knows my religion, knows about my child,” she said.
McCullough said she is a single mother who started a new job and can’t afford to get the graffiti removed and home repainted.
“If I get it painted, I’ll have to keep up painting through the years. If I get that one spot, redone, it will not be the same color as the rest of my home, because they no longer make that color siding,” she said.
[ GoFundMe: Help Deborah McCullough Restore Her Home ]
McCullough said that despite the hateful deed, she hopes this will serve as a reminder that it’s OK if others are different.
“Everybody is different,” she told Channel 9. “If you’re not blind, you can tell everybody is different, but it’s those differences that make this world a great place.”