Video footage showing a white woman calling the police on two Black men who shoveled the snow from the public sidewalk in front of her house out of kindness has gone viral, spreading from TikTok to Twitter to gain over a million views.
The woman not only calls the cops, incorrectly claiming that the public sidewalk is her property, she shovels snow back onto the pathway, making sure others passing by including elderly and disabled people will be at risk for falling and hurting themselves.
The men film the whole interaction, remaining calm because God forbid they get upset and show emotion over someone risking their lives over a friendly favor, and film again when the police arrive.
The woman’s English isn’t great, but she makes it clear that she thinks they’ve “trespassed” on the public sidewalk, which makes one wonder why she’s not calling the police on everyone who walks on it on a daily basis. She also makes it very clear that she does not like them, and it seems like she has had interactions with at least one of the young men before, who appears to know the person who owns the house next to her.
“What would Jesus do?” one of the men asks after he’s shoveled more snow for her. “If you’re a real Christian.”
As the men film, the lady calls the police, tells the person on the other line that they’re “African American” and claim they’ve trespassed on her property, have taken pictures of her, and are “making fun” of her. She is not at all moved by the men’s correct assertions that the sidewalk is public property. Once she gets off the phone, she asserts that they’re not allowed to cross an imaginary line on the sidewalk and proceeds to shovel snow back all over the pathway.
By the end of the initial video, she sounds like she’s making vague threats, muttering about calling her family members to do something to the kind men who shoveled the walkway in front of her house.
The second video shows the police arriving, but thankfully, and we say that because the bar for good police behavior is down around Satan’s hooves, they aren’t aggressive. They seem like they’ve dealt with this woman before and claim that she has mental health issues.
Once again we have to issue a reminder that mental health issues do not cause racism or violent behavior like making threats and calling the police on Black men for nothing.
One of the snow removers says that he’ll give the woman one more chance but if she harasses him and calls the cops on him for nothing again, he’s pressing charges on her.
“The life of being Black,” says the man who’s filming.
A number of commenters, tired of seeing example after example of people like this woman who call the police on Black people for existing or even doing something kind, feel that they were too generous in giving her another chance.
“Not gone lie, granny would have got some charges,” wrote one user. “She won’t change until something makes her change.”
“The fact that they showed up and she didn’t say a reason is crazy,” said another, “she should be fined for wasting their time.”
