Mimi, whose surname was withheld for protection, moved into the predominately white neighborhood of Milnrow in Rochdale, England, with her parents, brother and sister, two weeks ago.
Although she wasn't expecting a welcoming committee, the 23-year-old and her family were subjected to an act of hate crime.
"We are black and there aren't many black people in the community," she told Buzzfeed.
On Saturday, Mimi's family, originally from Zimbabwe, were enjoying a barbecue. She noticed some of the local boys from the neighborhood walking around during the day, but there was nothing specific about them to cause alarm.
My uncles and aunts and other family were speaking in our home language.
When their invited guests left for the evening, Mimi retired for the night upstairs with her parents and sister. Suddenly, her brother shouted for the family to come downstairs after hearing disturbing sounds on the living room window.
He heard something on the window. He said, 'Guys come down, look what's happened.' We opened the door and saw [the graffiti] on the window.
As they came downstairs and looked out the window, the family noticed two men on bicycles riding away. Spray-painted on the window were the words: "no blacs n*****s (sic)."
Mimi's friend Florence posted the picture of the reprehensible graffiti on the family's window using the vile racial epithet.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime by the Greater Manchester police. Inspector Rob MacGregor of GMP's Rochdale District issued the following statement:
This is an absolutely sickening crime, that has deeply upset not just the victims, but local residents who have seen what was written.
Thousands of people live together across Greater Manchester, from different walks of life, and those who write hateful messages will be dealt with accordingly.
We are treating this as a hate crime and are working closely with our partners, Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Borough Housing to fully investigate this matter.
If you heard any kind of disturbance in the early hours of Sunday morning, or have information that could help us identify who is responsible, please do the right thing and get in touch.
Mimi recalled how the perpetrators vandalized her home, turning her fear into anger and frustration.
It was like they were monitoring it because they did it when everyone had gone.
It was really scary, because it's just like, I'm so tired of black people being the target.
It just shows that some people really aren't that friendly — they are very spiteful and they have a lot of hatred in them.
Buzzfeed cited the equality and diversity data to describe the population ratio for Rochdale.
The 2011 Census revealed that in Rochdale Borough 166,481 people identify as White British which makes up 78.6% of the local population. The largest ethnic minority group is Pakistani which makes up 10.5% of the local population (22,265)
Instead of feeling forced out of their new home, Mimi is standing her ground despite her mother's wishes.
Why should we move? Why should they feel uncomfortable when they're the ones committing the crime, not us.
Harris For President
