Mowing While Black (and 12 years old)

cornflake

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A twelve-year-old named Reggie, in Maple Heights, Ohio, decided to be industrious and start Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service. He and his siblings and some cousins went knocking on doors and got clients who wanted their lawns mowed.

Reggie was out working for one when he and his mower strayed onto the neighbour's connected lawn (there's apparently no boundary line, hedges, nothing) and cut a foot or so stretch of their grass. So, obviously, they called 911.

"They said I was cutting their grass. I didn't know it!" Reggie said.

His customer, Lucille Holt, said she was confused when she saw police, but quickly learned the next-door neighbors called to complain that the group was in their yard and had cut about a foot onto their property.

"They said the kids cut their grass," Holt said.

Reggie said the police said nothing to him and the kids. He finished the job and felt a little discouraged.

"I was like, that's a shame. I didn't know," Reggie said.

The cops came, talked to the neighbour and the woman who hired Reggie, and didn't bother the hard-working kids, because fucking seriously?

The woman who'd hired them was incensed, and posted the whole thing, including a video of the cops coming, to fb. Upside, Reggie now has a lot of requests for his services.


Reggie said he's trying to save the money he earns to buy new equipment and grow his business.

"Just give me a call. I will be there. On time!" He said.
 

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How bad is it that I clicked on this prepared to read that the twelve-year-old had been shot dead?

I was braced for the same thing; so glad it didn't turn out that way, but it so often does.

Good for the Police department; they checked out a call, and they did the right thing, and no one was killed.
 

frimble3

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What a cow! What is it with white women these days? The best they got to do with their time is to pick on hardworking, industrious Kids Of Colour? I wish these kids lived near me - my grass is mowed, but I need weeding in the worst way.
I hope these whiners get the neighbours they deserve: slightly older teenagers, who, instead of mowing, drive their quads to spin out on the neighbours' grass, turning their lawn into a mudhole. Kids who, instead of selling lemonade, sell drugs. Kids who bring their friends to pee in the neighbours' pools. Not to mention drunken house-parties, screaming fights with their parents, etc.
Make them rue the loss of those industrious, ambitious kids they harassed.
 

Marian Perera

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I hope these whiners get the neighbours they deserve: slightly older white teenagers, who, instead of mowing, drive their quads to spin out on the neighbours' grass, turning their lawn into a mudhole. Kids who, instead of selling lemonade, sell drugs.

Fixed that for you. Because otherwise, the kids probably will get killed, and people like that woman will feel even more justified about it.
 

frimble3

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Thank you for fixing that. You are right, and that is exactly what I visualized. Skinny blond white boys, desperately trying to grow their wispy little mustaches, playing loud music, and peeling out on other people's property, while high on beer and weed.
And, yes, if it was older black kids, there would be a much higher chance of being shot by the police, and the women would feel justified. And smug.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I hate stories like these, but (provided no one gets shot), the pwnage the caller gets afterwards is usually pretty entertaining.
 

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I saw someone on Twitter say "white people call police like they're customer service!". I don't think he's wrong.

Also, considering how over-reactionary this broad is, thank god he didn't knock on her door to offer his services! Can you imagine how that would've gone down!?
 

cornflake

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One of the many things that bothers me about all these white folks calling the cops on black people.. mowing, selling water, grilling inappropriately, having the gall to go in a hotel pool, golfing, etc., ... is that they nearly all seem to call fucking 911.

Like, ok, you want to be a racist dick, you do you -- but call the goddamn non-emergency number. I don't get the level of entitlement, hubris, whatever, that leads people to call 911 to complain about this nonsense. I can't think of any plausible reason for this one (or the others, but some of the nuts make some attempt to defend themselves, like the woman who called the cops on the black AirBnB customers who didn't wave at her claimed she thought they might be burglars (walking out in broad daylight in casual clothes dragging suitcases nonchalantly on their way to an Uber, as so many burglars do)).

These are very obviously children, with gardening equipment, using it in an appropriate manner, in broad daylight. She said they mowed her grass by mistake and apparently that's an emergency?
 
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waylander

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The cops should bill her for wasting police time
 

regdog

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The police handled the situation well and Mr. Reggie's lawn business now has so many clients since the story broke, he's thinking of expanding.
 

MaryMumsy

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In the interest of fairness: from photos accompanying the news article it appears the women who called the police are also black. That only makes it slightly less egregious.

MM
 

Prozyan

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In the interest of fairness: from photos accompanying the news article it appears the women who called the police are also black. That only makes it slightly less egregious.

MM

I didn't see the race of the woman mentioned, so I think there is some assumption going on.

If you watch the video, you can hear the lady recording mention this neighbor has called the police previously for her kids playing too loudly, crying because they were disciplined and other petty things.

Sounds like the neighbor is just an all around asshole.
 

R.A. Lundberg

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One of the many things that bothers me about all these white folks calling the cops on black people.. mowing, selling water, grilling inappropriately, having the gall to go in a hotel pool, golfing, etc., ... is that they nearly all seem to call fucking 911.

Like, ok, you want to be a racist dick, you do you -- but call the goddamn non-emergency number. I don't get the level of entitlement, hubris, whatever, that leads people to call 911 to complain about this nonsense. I can't think of any plausible reason for this one (or the others, but some of the nuts make some attempt to defend themselves, like the woman who called the cops on the black AirBnB customers who didn't wave at her claimed she thought they might be burglars (walking out in broad daylight in casual clothes dragging suitcases nonchalantly on their way to an Uber, as so many burglars do)).

These are very obviously children, with gardening equipment, using it in an appropriate manner, in broad daylight. She said they mowed her grass by mistake and apparently that's an emergency?
I work in local county government, and have had a lot of interaction with our 911 folks. You would not believe the number of times I've heard a dispatcher have to refer someone to a non-emergency number for something they have called 911 for. A missing kids bike (just the bike, not the kid), a neighbor's music is too loud, etc. One memorable guy called 911 because he'd been drinking and was thinking about driving home, I guess as a preventative measure? Also that old cell phone you have, and you give to your kid to play with? Yeah, that phone can still call 911. ("Is your mommy or daddy home honey? Can I talk to them please?) Then there's the other side of it, the guy who calls 911 and says "I'm at 123 Maple street. Send the cops." BANG. Or the woman who called to tell us she'd gotten up from a nap and her baby was blue, cold and not breathing. (the dispatcher, a new mom herself, went into the supervisors office and broke down after that). Please respect your 911 dispatchers and the police officers they send out for you when you call. They have a shitty job and spend a lot of time dealing with the scum of humanity for you.
 

Sage

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I think a lot of people learn "9-1-1 is to call the police" as kids and never learn that it's the emergency number only, that there's a non-emergency number to call. I had to call the police for a non-emergency, and I found it very difficult to find the right number (might be easier to find that info in today's world).
 

Lavern08

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How bad is it that I clicked on this prepared to read that the twelve-year-old had been shot dead?
Yep, me too! - I'm glad "Mr. Reggie" dodged a bullet this time - NO pun intended. :flag:
 

frimble3

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You know, I liked this young man since I saw that his business was call 'Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service'. He sounds like a lad with dignity, and, possibly, ambition. An eye on the future. If the unwanted attention has increased business, possibly he could go year-round, mowing in summer, shoveling in winter. As long as his friends, family and schoolmates hold on.
 

SWest

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Local news station was reporting tonight that Mr. Reggie's had to bring on more hands to suit demand...a landscaping company & another local individual have donated some shiny new tools, and trained the kids how to use them.

:greenie
 

neandermagnon

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If I had a garden and if he lived nearby I'd hire him to mow my lawn. Glad that the publicity's been good for his business.

I think a lot of people learn "9-1-1 is to call the police" as kids and never learn that it's the emergency number only, that there's a non-emergency number to call. I had to call the police for a non-emergency, and I found it very difficult to find the right number (might be easier to find that info in today's world).

In the UK there's 101 for the police non-emergency and 111 for NHS non-emergency. They will send police and/or an ambulance out with blues and twos if your non-emergency turns out to be an emergency. When my daughter had a severe allergic reaction I didn't know what to do so I called NHS 111, they went through their standard questions (which is to identify if there's a life-threatening situation), realised she had anaphylaxis and sent an ambulance, which arrived within minutes. (She was later referred to the allergy clinic and now has epipens.)

They set up the NHS direct (the old NHS non-emergency number) due to a lot of cases of people getting themselves in a panic about what they think is life-threatening, but isn't, and in many cases just need a nurse to tell them they'll be fine and how to treat it at home. Also to stop people going to A&E when they should be going to their GP - they advise you of which place you should go to for further assessment and treatment, if necessary. They later replaced NHS direct with NHS 111 which is an easier number to remember.

I don't know so much about why the police 101 number was set up, but I'd imagine it's because of people calling 999 for trivial things. There were police non-emergency numbers before that but they were different depending on your local police force. Police 101 is a lot easier to remember than trying to look up your local police in the phone book, back in the day.
 
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vsrenard

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There are non-emergency police numbers here, too, but this incident didn't rise up to the level of even that. What happened to speaking to people instead of confronting them, calling the police, escalating everything?

The entire damn country needs a workshop on how to de-escalate. Not everything in life has to be 'us against them.'
 

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What happened to speaking to people instead of confronting them, calling the police, escalating everything?

That's part of the "while black" problem; it's quite likely that the 911 call wouldn't have been made if the teens had been white.