White woman calls the cops on black Georgia man for babysitting two white kids

[phands]

I leave it to Derec and bedbug to tell us why this isn't racist, and the racist woman was really acting out of a sense of civic duty....

Georgia resident Corey Lewis is crying foul after a white woman first stalked him and then called the police on him because she feared for the safety of the two white children he happened to be babysitting.


Local news station CBS 46 reports that Lewis was in the parking lot of a local Walmart going on an errand with the two children he was babysitting when a white woman approached him and started questioning him about the children’s safety.


The woman then asked Lewis if she could talk to the children to make sure they were okay — and he refused, as he didn’t see why he should let a complete stranger talk to the children whose safety he was supposed to be guarding.


The woman then followed Lewis in her car all the way to the street where he lived before calling the police to report him.


An officer showed up on the scene and talked to the two children, a 10-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, who confirmed that Lewis had not kidnapped them. The police then called the children’s parents, who expressed disbelief that someone had told the cops to investigate their babysitter.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/wa...black-georgia-man-babysitting-two-white-kids/

 

[Valjean]

Racism has become more subtle; less overt, but still remains a significant factor in the American psyche.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Urrybody know dem blacks ain't up to no good nohow.

 

[Elixir]

Isn't it at least a misdemeanor to call the cops without any real reason? Or does ((1black guy+2white kids)=Reason)?

 

[Jarhyn]

Urrybody know dem blacks ain't up to no good nohow.

Around blacks... never relax!


/s

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Isn't it at least a misdemeanor to call the cops without any real reason? Or does ((1black guy+2white kids)=Reason)?

IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that false reporting has as a prerequisite that the caller knew his report was false before making it.

Looking it up, that is certainly the case in Georgia.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Urrybody know dem blacks ain't up to no good nohow.

Well, when my wife was out with our kids, at least in Virginia or Florida, a lot of people just assumed she was the hired nanny.

 

[ruby sparks]

My guess is that him being a male babysitter was as much of a perceived 'issue' as him being black.

Google 'Parents don't like male babysitters' for example:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...rome..69i57.7740j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I'm not saying it wasn't a bit of both.

Men being around children that are not their own, in public generally, is something many men are wary of, because if the children are not seen as being their children, there is a fear of being thought of as a pedophile. This affects how men react to children in trouble:

Day of the dad: paedophilia hysteria leaves men afraid to help
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/educati...hilia-hysteria-leaves-men-afraid-to-help.html

Half of men steer clear of children in trouble for fear of being branded paedophiles
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...hildren-trouble-fear-branded-paedophiles.html

Not to mention some airlines having a policy of not allowing men to sit beside unaccompanied children or children not sitting with a parent;

Airline seating sex discrimination controversy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_seating_sex_discrimination_controversy

The male worry is also a given reason why there's a shortage of male teachers in schools (especially primary schools):

High risk men: male teachers and sexuality in early years contexts
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02673843.2007.9747979

The perils of being a male primary/junior teacher: vulnerability and accusations of inappropriate contact with students:
file:///Users/davidmills/Downloads/6190-26627-1-PB.pdf

On a related note, apparently it also affects male nurses:

Not a job for a man: Factors in the use of touch by male nursing staff
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ors_in_the_use_of_touch_by_male_nursing_staff

Ditto Social workers:

The Touching of Children in a Culture of Fear
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468017306066742

Some of the above will also apply to women, but to a lesser extent.


Not playing down the likely racial element in the OP case.

 

[Jarhyn]

My guess is that him being a male babysitter was as much of a perceived 'issue' as him being black.

Google 'Parents don't like male babysitters' for example:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...rome..69i57.7740j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I'm not saying it wasn't a bit of both.

Men being around children that are not their own, in public generally, is something many men are wary of, because if the children are not seen as being their children, there is a fear of being thought of as a pedophile. This affects how men react to children in trouble:

Day of the dad: paedophilia hysteria leaves men afraid to help
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/educati...hilia-hysteria-leaves-men-afraid-to-help.html

Half of men steer clear of children in trouble for fear of being branded paedophiles
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...hildren-trouble-fear-branded-paedophiles.html

Not to mention some airlines having a policy of not allowing men to sit beside unaccompanied children or children not sitting with a parent;

Airline seating sex discrimination controversy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_seating_sex_discrimination_controversy

The male worry is also a given reason why there's a shortage of male teachers in schools (especially primary schools):

High risk men: male teachers and sexuality in early years contexts
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02673843.2007.9747979

The perils of being a male primary/junior teacher: vulnerability and accusations of inappropriate contact with students:
file:///Users/davidmills/Downloads/6190-26627-1-PB.pdf

On a related note, apparently it also affects male nurses:

Not a job for a man: Factors in the use of touch by male nursing staff
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ors_in_the_use_of_touch_by_male_nursing_staff

Ditto Social workers:

The Touching of Children in a Culture of Fear
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468017306066742

Some of the above will also apply to women, but to a lesser extent.


Not playing down the likely racial element in the OP case.

Man, so many echoes close to home here. I'm one of those guys who dreads the eventual day wherein I am out in public and someone thinks my hobo-lookin self is perving on my own kids. "Stranger Danger" has done incalculable harm; the generations who grew up with it have passed it on and grown it like a cancer that has metastasized. It's penny wise, pound foolish, and resembles the fears some have about voter fraud, terrorism fears, etc.: the cure is more onerous than the disease, by orders of magnitude.

 

[southernhybrid]

Until the last few years, the county where that happened was mostly white, somewhat affluent and very Republican. In fact, my uppity Republican brother in law lives in that town, although I really don't think it would bother him at all, if he saw a black man caring for some white children. In the past several years, the area has become far more diverse and there has even been hope that it will be turning blue before too long. I guess this stupid woman doesn't think people like the baby sitter belong in her town. It's kind of weird though, when you consider how many uppity white people were raised by black nannies through out the history of the south. My husband has some cousins in SC that all had black nannies.

I'm glad that my town is half black and half white, with lots of mixed race kids. I wonder when some black person here will call the cops if they see a white mama or dad with his or her black kids.

 

[ruby sparks]

Man, so many echoes close to home here. I'm one of those guys who dreads the eventual day wherein I am out in public and someone thinks my hobo-lookin self is perving on my own kids. "Stranger Danger" has done incalculable harm; the generations who grew up with it have passed it on and grown it like a cancer that has metastasized. It's penny wise, pound foolish, and resembles the fears some have about voter fraud, terrorism fears, etc.: the cure is more onerous than the disease, by orders of magnitude.

One of those links contains a particularly sad story. In 2006, a little girl (Abigail Rae) wandered away from a village playgroup in Warwickshire, England, and ended up falling into a pond and drowning. A man (Clive Peachy, a bricklayer) came forward afterwards and said he had seen her walking along the pavement as he drove by, and had felt he should stop, but feared being seen as possibly trying to abduct her into his van.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

My guess is that him being a male babysitter was as much of a perceived 'issue' as him being black.

Seconded.

 

[laughing dog]

My guess is that him being a male babysitter was as much of a perceived 'issue' as him being black.

Seconded.

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

[BH]

I'm 42, single, and never had kids. This is not the norm for a male my age in the area and I am sure some people judge me ill for it. One time I was taking a joy ride out in the country after getting off work early. There was a small two or three year old girl walking and playing with her toys right by the side of the failry busy road. I assumed she may have been inside the house and managed to get out while her mom was cooking or going to the bathroom.

Here is what I did. I pulled over and called the non-emergency police phone number and tell them who I am and what I am going to do. I approach the little girl and ask her to take me to her mom and dad back at her home. She doesn't speak. Just picks up her two toys and walks off looking behind at me every few steps. I just stay back ten paces and follow up to her porch. I ring the doorbell and mother, seeing both of us through the glass door, already knew what had happened. Mother was very grateful and the father later showed up at my workplace the next day to thank me.

At that age little kids instincts tell them to run back to the house which is what I counted on.


Another story. When the K-mart was still open at Corsicana 15 years ago I had gone out there to shop. I stopped at the diner at the store and got something to eat. I go get a drink refill and return to my table to find a little boy just old enough to walk on his own at my table eating my potato salad. I go grab a cup of water and another paper plate and spork and let him have some and tell the clerk to make an announcement asking moms and dads to check to see if their kids are with them and if not we have a little kiddo at the diner. Two old ladies show up and I tell them what happened and they just laugh that someone else is eating my dinner.

Mom shows up and thanks me. The kid finishs his snack and off they go. The two old ladies give the mom the meanest stare I ever saw but heaped praises on me.

 

[Deepak]

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

Well he is male. Now if he were a white guy with two white kids I sincerely doubt the authorities would have been called

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

Well he is male. Now if he were a white guy with two white kids I sincerely doubt the authorities would have been called

The situation for the woman was unusual. So she panicked. The odd thing is the guy indicated that she was creeping out the kids.

Had the man been white, nothing would have happened as white male with two white children isn't exactly something you don't see.

And you don't want to not report something for fear of looking stupid. The problem is, in this day and age, that shouldn't be considered that unusual. And if the children don't appear to be in distress, might be best to assume it is normal.

 

[BH]

My guess is that him being a male babysitter was as much of a perceived 'issue' as him being black.

Seconded.

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

I would have to agree. One of the racist slanders hurled at blacks was that they molest kids. I grew up hearing this from racist relatives all my life.

 

[Deepak]

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

Well he is male. Now if he were a white guy with two white kids I sincerely doubt the authorities would have been called

The situation for the woman was unusual. So she panicked. The odd thing is the guy indicated that she was creeping out the kids.

Had the man been white, nothing would have happened as white male with two white children isn't exactly something you don't see.

And you don't want to not report something for fear of looking stupid. The problem is, in this day and age, that shouldn't be considered that unusual. And if the children don't appear to be in distress, might be best to assume it is normal.

It's not like Georgia has any shortage of mixed marriages or biracial children, and I don't think that most kidnappers take their kidnappees out to eat at Subway in a public location. Shouldn't the dispatcher have screened the call for basic details like whether there was anything to indicate the children were in distress or in some way uncomfortable around him?

Whether it's his business or his family situation that puts him in contact with children who are a different skin color, it seems like a pretty undue burden that he should have to be subject to a welfare check by cops based on any random person's unparticularized feeling that a situation is unusual. This could potentially happen multiple times a day every day. If they want to send someone to observe the situation that's one thing, but he's actually being accosted and the childrens' parents are being called.

 

[ruby sparks]

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

As pointed out, he was male.

And if you think she would have called the police if the babysitter had been female, I'll sell you London Bridge.

In other words, it was probably both things together.

 

[laughing dog]

If you think this woman would have called the police if the babysitter was male, then I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

As pointed out, he was male.

And if you think she would have called the police if the babysitter had been female, I'll sell you London Bridge.

In other words, it was probably both things together.

I meant to type "white". IF he had been white, she would not have called at all.