At only 12 years old, Reggie Fields has become an entrepreneur by creating Mr. Reggie’s Lawn Service in his neighborhood of Maple Heights, outside of Cleveland. However, a neighbor has tried to hinder his business.
In the recent trend of white people — Permit Patty, BBQ Becky and Pool Patrol Paula — calling 911 on Black people for doing ordinary things, a white couple, Linda and Randy Krakor, contacted authorities when Reggie and his crew accidentally strayed into a thin strip of their yard.
“They said I was cutting their grass. I didn’t know it!” Reggie told WEWS last week. “I was like, that’s a shame. I didn’t know.”
At the time, he was working with his sister and two cousins on the lawn of customer Lucille Holt-Colden. Holt-Colden said she initially didn’t understand why the cops were called. But she soon found out the Krakors complained that a portion of their lawn, about a foot where the two properties meet, was cut.
Linda Krakora referred to Holt-Colden as garbage.
“The police were not called on the young boy — the police were called on the garbage I have next door,” Krakora told The New York Times.
Holt-Colden created a Facebook post about the incident that has gone viral with more than half a million views.
“You see the police car right there,” she says in the video. “I guess I have a line where part of it is not my yard. They called the police to tell the police that the kids were cutting their grass. Who does that Who does that”
Holt-Colden then began to list previous times she claims the same neighbor contacted authorities on her children for activities like a snowball fight.
“Who calls the police for everything” she said.
The police did not cite or stop Reggie and his family members, and only communicated with the adults.
Holt-Colden said she believes her neighbor constantly calling the police is racially motivated.
“If the kids were white,” Holt-Colden told The Washington Post, “they would not have called.”
She said that people of various races live in the community, but “I don’t have any problems with any other neighbors,” according to the Post.
Holt-Colden met the children at a Dollar Tree on June 23 where they were purchasing a gas canister and some lawn bags. She asked them to mow her lawn and thought the $20 for services was a good investment to support the endeavors of Black youth.
Reggie’s mother, Brandy Fields, told CNN that he began mowing lawns in May to make some candy money. After he saw how much money he could earn, Reggie threw himself into the business.
Since the incident, Reggie has picked up about 20 new clients, she said.
“Some people are calling from out of town, saying, ‘Can you come cut my grass'” Fields said.
Reggie plans to expand his business by purchasing more rakes to pick up leaves in the fall and, for the winter, snow shovels.
Holt-Colden created a GoFundMe page to help Reggie’s business along. So far, more than $36,000 has been raised, greatly exceeding the initial $1,000 goal.
