Deborah Cantwell a Greentown, Indiana woman arrested after posting racist note on new neighbor-Amy Howell Pundt’s front door. ‘No nigg*s wanted in this neighborhood’.
A 63 year old Indiana woman has been arrested after leaving a racist note on the door of her neighbor’s newly purchased home.
The note which read in part, ‘No nigg*s wanted in this neighborhood,’ led to Deborah Cantwell of Greentown being charged with intimidation and criminal mischief.
The incident also led to a protection order being issued stating that ‘stalking has occurred’ and Cantwell not allowed to contact the family the Kokomo Tribune reported.
Cantwell spotted Amy Howell Pundt and her family on October 12, as they took photos with the ‘Sold’ sign in front of their new home.
Pundt, who has a black 15-year-old son, said it was the family’s ‘dream home’, which had taken them a year to find and save up for.
But the happiness and excitement of the family’s new ‘dream home’ soon turned sour.
Deborah Cantwell: ‘I moved to a white neighborhood for health reasons.’
Posted Pundt on her Facebook wall, ‘We all walked in the front door that day, ready to start this new adventure,’
‘However, I didn’t know my son was being watched and targeted as I sent him out to help bring things in. I didn’t know what was getting ready to come.’
Pundt and her children left the house around 7pm and returned to their rental.
Her husband was working late that night and stopped by the family’s new home. That’s when he saw the toilet paper.
And then, he saw the letter.
‘No N*****s wanted in this neighborhood – THIS IS A WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD – some people,’ the beginning of the letter – which was all typed – read.
Cantwell, who has admitted to writing the letter, went on to say that she had ’33 years of negative experience’ and ‘finds N*****s stressful’.
‘I cannot be stress free if I have to look at the n*****r kid day in and day out,’ it continues.
Cantwell in her note explained that she moved to a ‘white town’ and ‘all white neighborhood’ for ‘health reasons’.
‘This is our forever home, we cannot afford to move – besides this is my dream home and we have been here for a very long time,’ Cantwell’s letter continued.
‘Perhaps you should have considered the neighborhood before bringing a N****r kid into this neighborhood.’
‘YOUR N****R KID IS NOT WELCOME…just the sight of the child reminds me of all the things I live in this town to forget.’
‘Your kid may be a nice kid but the sight sets off my anger, rage and disgust of how N*****s never pay for their crimes.’
Pundt’s husband in turn called police.
‘The toilet paper, that was a warning,’ Pundt reflected on Facebook. ‘The note, that was the threat.’
‘A letter about my son who had been watched and plotted against. My biracial son. My CHILD was facing bigotry and hatred at a level I can’t even fathom. JUST FOR THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN.’
Amy Howell Pundt: ‘My children’s innocence has been destroyed.’
Pundt claims the letter since destroying her son’s innocence and childhood along with affecting her four other children.
‘How do I tell my child that this was done? What words do I say to let him know itis not okay and this doesn’t represent this town, where everyone that meets him likes him? That this can’t make him angry and bitter,’ the mother posted.
‘That he is so much better then what they are portraying him as. His skin color shouldn’t matter. I had to look him in his eyes to talk to him about something I will never understand.’
‘But I saw firsthand the devastation on his face. I watched my child be crushed by someone else’s hatred and racism.’
This white supremacist woman Deborah Cantwell from #Indiana left a horrific letter at her new neighbor’s door..(no ni**er* wanted) cause they had a black son.. pic.twitter.com/QAFXxYYCtU
— Pooch (@Pooch070) October 29, 2018
Deborah Cantwell texts: ‘The blacks get away with it every time,’
Upon police arriving, Cantwell was arrested after Pundt’s husband telling police he suspected the woman having written the letter.
The home’s seller had told the husband that Cantwell didn’t want the family moving into their neighborhood because they had a black son.
Investigators then obtained text messages that Cantwell sent to another person in which she said she was ‘stressing’ because ‘we are going to get black neighbors’.
‘I am hoping that more people look at the house and an all-white family are the ultimate buyers,’ the text read.
‘I am afraid the stress of black neighbors could put me in the hospital,’ she continues. ‘My blood pressure is elevated just thinking about the possibility.’
On October 18, Cantwell admitted to police that she had written the letter and covered the family’s yard in toilet paper.
But she refused to apologize and continued to defend her actions.
‘The blacks get away with it every time,’ she told investigators. ‘I was trying to vent.’
‘I was just trying to let them know that they weren’t really…welcome as far as us. I just needed to let off some steam.’
‘I’m not a violent person so I didn’t think it was any big deal.’
Catwell said she was sorry that her letter ’caused so much rucuks’, before adding that she ‘released some anger writing that letter’.
When the investigator asked how Cantwell would feel if she received such a letter, the woman responded: ‘I’d want to get out of the neighborhood’.
Pundt says she’s been sharing the family’s story because her son wants people to see that ‘racism still exists’.
‘It’s real. It hurts. It destroys. It’s devastating, and it affects everyone. He WILL rise above this. He’s going to make beauty from ashes. He will fight this. And he will win.’
‘He’s on the honor roll, he swims, he plays soccer, and runs track. He even made show choir. Never gets in trouble. Not to mention he’s kind, sweet, caring, and he bleeds the same as everyone else. There’s nothing “different” about him.’
Pundt has since set up a GoFundMe page for the family, hoping to raise money for a fence, a security system, and any upcoming legal fees.
Cantwell now says she intends to get counseling.
