Some people just persist with their racism through all of the societal efforts to put an end to it. In light of the fact that it’s the age of the internet and camera phones, there’s been a spate of high profile incidents recently consisting of white individuals calling the police on blacks who are doing absolutely nothing wrong — and now there’s another one.
This weekend, a woman who’s been identified only as Brenda called the police on a group of mostly if not all black individuals who were demonstrating against violence in North Charleston, South Carolina. The crowd, marching under the “Stop the Violence” paradigm, consisted largely of young people — as in kids in elementary and middle school — and had been handing out conflict resolution materials when they stopped at a gas station for sustenance. Most of those assembled waited outside the store while those inside picked them up some drinks — and then Brenda showed up.
She was caught on film taking a phone from a man she seemed to be of some relation to in the parking lot of the gas station that she used to speak with 911.
In her conversation with dispatchers, she insisted:
‘They’re standing outside my store, they’re videoing us and everything, I need a police officer here now. I mean, it’s like a riot out here.’
They were literally just standing there — but to Brenda, the crowd was “absolutely destroying the outside” area of the store, whatever that was supposed to mean. What it really constitutes in the end is evidence that Brenda harbors a drummed up fear of black people because… reasons.
Watch below.
**MAKE THIS GO VIRAL** Whyt woman calls 911 on us during our Stop the Violence walk in North Charleston. She is the Manager at Murphy's Gas Station on the Corner of Rivers Ave and Otranto rd. She says she doesn't care about our money, just leave the store. We stopped there to get the children some drinks after we walked a mile during our Rally. I thought 911 was for emergencies???? Their customer service number is 1-800-843-4298. The store location is 8599 Rivers Ave, North Charleston, SC 29406.. Call the store and let them know we will be boycotting. Her hashtag is #GasStationGail
Posted by Shakem Akhet on Sunday, October 14, 2018
What exact role she does or doesn’t have at the convenience store in question proved at least initially a mystery. The store itself wouldn’t confirm whether or not she worked there when pressed by the Charleston City Paper, and the corporate overlords at Murphy USA didn’t provide any information either.
Police did eventually turn out to the scene, but by the time they got there, the crowd had dispersed.
Event organizer Jonathan Thrower praised the police department’s response, considering it’s hardly like they descended on the area with a SWAT team like Brenda might have wanted.
He commented:
‘The North Charleston Police Department — I applaud them, because the guy was like, “You know, they’re just coming in to purchase something, I’m sure they‘re not causing any trouble.”‘
Ironically enough, local police themselves have expressly endorsed the “Stop the Violence” marches in the past. North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess was apparently present for one as recently as October 1.
Still, the racists persist.
The Charleston incident is hardly the only one of its kind. For instance, in a high profile mistake that led to national racial sensitivity training at the store, a Starbucks manager in Philadelphia called the police on two black men literally just because they were sitting there. Making that situation worse than the South Carolina one, police actually took the pair into custody. They eventually reached settlements with both Starbucks and the city, pledging to work together on programs to promote and protect diversity.
The situations are a couple of many in the United States currently led by racist Donald Trump.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
