BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — When one of Tony and Lucretia Greear's sons went outside Sunday morning, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
"I was furious," Tony Greear said. "My son called me and said, 'Dad, come outside. You won't believe this.'"
Early Sunday morning, one person — who was accompanied by others in two vehicles — went up to two vehicles parked in the family's driveway and, using some kind of white marker, scribbled vulgar images, expletives, the N-word in full form and a swastika.
"I feel sorry that your heart is filled with that much hate and that much hurt. You have a miserable life," Dr. Lucretia Greear, a well-known surgical veterinrian, said.
"I was up all night and I don't think it registered to me how hurtful and how hateful it was," she added. "I — just processing that there's nothing about me that should be wrong for my children, but today there is. They have a Black mom."
"It's very scary. It's like not feeling safe in my home, you know, how far is this going to go?" a teary Greear said as she sat next to her husband.
The entire incident came as a complete shock to the married interracial couple who, until now, have been spared any difficult conversations about racism with their four sons.
"There's just no place for that in today's world," Tony Greear said.
On Lucretia Greear's Tesla, an electric vehicle, it appeared the person also scribbled "diesel life."
Brownstown Township police are investigating and hoping anyone who lives in the area of Woodruff Road and Fort Road can check their home surveillance and doorbell cameras for any suspicious activity around 4 a.m. Sunday that might help them identify the people responsible.
"There won't be permanent damage to the vehicles, but the ethnic intimidation statute states 'defacing,' which this certainly is," Brownstown Deputy Police Chief Andy Starzec said. "It's a two-year felony. This is a very, very serious incident that happened."
Township Supervisor Ed Smith said he's disappointed and that it's not typical of Brownstown Township.
"Hate does not go away, it just hides. So, it's important for all of us to be proactive. When you hear things, when you see things, say something," said Smith, who is also Black and has been an active member of the community for many years.
Early Monday morning, Brownstown Township police were back out in the same neighborhood after getting called about anti-Semitic fliers were found stuffed in plastic baggies and thrown in front of about 20 homes. The very same flyers have been found in a number of incidents in cities across Michigan before.
The people leaving the anti-Semitic flyers have used pebbles, corn and wood chips to weigh down the plastic baggies, so that people find them in front of their homes instead of them blowing away.
"It's obviously early in the investigation, but it appears that they might be two separate incidents but certainly interesting timing," Starzec said.
Police and the Greears are urging anyone with any information on anyone involved in the act of ethnic intimidation at their home to call police at 734-675-1300.
"It's just horrible to feel like today that my children have to have any level of fear because I'm their mother. It's a horrible feeling," Lucretia Greear said. "I feel like my kids, we raised them to just really not have any care or concern about race. But, today, they almost have to be."
"It's just scary," the mother of four continued. "I don't want them to have to fear who they are, ever. No one should have to."
