Amid almost daily reports from across the country of white people calling the cops on Blacks for activities like napping and buying prom outfits, a Black father claims that security was notified of a “‘suspicious man’ walking on the bike path with a baby” while he pushed his son in a stroller in a Washington, D.C., area park.
Donald Sherman, a lawyer based in D.C., explained in a Facebook post that on Thursday he stayed home with his son, Caleb, who had a fever. He wanted Caleb to get some fresh air, so he took his son for a walk in Kingman and Heritage Island Park, near their home.
“Thirty minutes into our stroll I got flagged by a security officer in one of those cars marked ‘Special Police’ on the side,” Sherman wrote. “I was a bit confused as to whether she was looking for me to stop but she honked twice and pulled over so I got the picture.
“She told me that she received a complaint from someone who said there was a ‘suspicious man’ walking on the bike path with a baby. She said that when the complainant was asked to describe my race, she declined.
“Nevertheless, this person, a white lady on a bike who veered off as Caleb and I were walking in her direction, saw fit to report me to security.”
Sherman said his interaction with the security officer was “pleasant” and that she just wanted to inform him of what happened.
“If this complaint had been made to a different security officer or an actual cop, things could have gone very differently,” he wrote.
“This is exactly why we have to talk about white privilege and why Black lives matter.
“Because at any point doing any thing anywhere my safety and my child’s safety could been in jeopardy because some well intentioned complaint.”
“Are white folks losing their minds” Christian N. Henderson wrote in response to Sherman’s post. “This is getting frightening and developing too fast. Thank you for maintaining your cool.”
