For one Spring, Texas, family, the Fourth of July holiday weekend had barely started when they awoke to find racist and vulgar messages spray-painted on the family's truck.
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"My black friend, he's been here for two days," Darren Franke told KHOU. "Me and him hung out in the yard and just mowed the grass and hanging out around the house yesterday. We woke up this morning and he goes, 'Man you need to go look at your truck!' "
When they walked outside Friday morning, they saw that someone had spray-painted racist messages and "KKK" all over the family's white Ford pickup truck.
"I have no affiliation with the Klan whatsoever!" Franke told the news station.
"It was scary and it was embarrassing," Franke's wife, Hayli, added.
Neighbors who couldn't believe what they were seeing took photos, while others shook their heads in disbelief.
"It's absolutely disgusting," neighbor Anita Johnson told KHOU. "What's America coming to? I live around the corner; you can't even park your vehicle out front now?"
The family tried to drive the truck to the car wash, but the ride there was painful because many people stopped and pointed at them, believing that they had written the hateful messages.
"I don't feel comfortable driving around," said Hayli Franke. "Driving to the car wash and back. We had so many different looks and people throwing their hands up at us like we did this to our own vehicle! It's 2015. People need to get over racism."
The Frankes drove the car home and spent the better part of the day scrubbing off the racist moniker using nail-polish remover and getting some help from neighbors.
Harris County police are investigating the incident, and the family noted that they are installing cameras.
The family added that their biggest concern was making sure their guest didn't feel uncomfortable.
"He felt like it was his fault," said Hayli Franke. "And I don't want him to feel that way. He's always welcome in our home."
Read more at KHOU.
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