‘This Is Awful’: Tennessee Museum Display Sparks Outrage As Children’s Letters to Santa Requesting ‘Slaves’ Go Viral, Prompting Investigation and Public Backlash

A viral Facebook post showing a Tennessee museum’s display that included multiple letters to Santa, some with Christmas wishes for “slaves,” drew numerous outraged reactions online. The post included a video initially published to Snapchat that showed three letters that were hung up for public display at Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tennessee. A viral Facebook post showed a set of Christmas letters to Santa posted at a Tennesee museum expressing holiday wishes for “slaves.” The museum said it is investigating the incident. (Photos: Facebook/Curt Hollandsworth) Two of the letters, which appeared to be written in children’s handwriting, communicated the same message: “I want a slave for Christmas.” The third letter was an activity sheet with the typed prompt, “For Christmas, I would love…” to which someone wrote “a slave” as a response. Hundreds of people shared the post and left comments, expressing disgust at the letters. Some people surmised that the same person wrote the letters. Others speculated that whoever wrote the letters intended to express their wishes for a “sleigh” and not a “slave.” Several people didn’t buy that line of thinking. “This can’t even be claimed as a mistake,” one person commented. Sleigh and slave...