What would you do, Incident at Playground

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Things like this make me ashamed to be white.

Why? You didn't do it and aren't responsible for his behavior. White guilt is boring and phony.

[Anonymous]

OP here. The park, school, and rec center are in NE DC.

Once we got to the tree, the conversation was interesting. First thing I did was repeat my name, and I asked them if they were ok. The kids began to unpack the incident, asking questions like, "Are we in trouble? ", and "Why did he say that", and surprisingly from one of the smaller children "What's a beast?".

My heart wanted to break right then and there; we sat and asked each other questions and talked it out. We also made our way into the rec center, told another adult, and later, spoke with a school official.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The park, school, and rec center are in NE DC.

Once we got to the tree, the conversation was interesting. First thing I did was repeat my name, and I asked them if they were ok. The kids began to unpack the incident, asking questions like, "Are we in trouble? ", and "Why did he say that", and surprisingly from one of the smaller children "What's a beast?".

My heart wanted to break right then and there; we sat and asked each other questions and talked it out. We also made our way into the rec center, told another adult, and later, spoke with a school official.

You seemed to have reacted well. Your posting method is annoying though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday while at a playground, a group of somewhat older elementary school aged children were playing at a public playground. It was obvious that the children had just gotten out of school; the school was located directly across the street from the recreation center and it was around 4:00. They all had on uniformed shirts.

At most, the children were between the ages of 9-12 years old. The children, along with my 5 and 7 year old, were the only ones on the playground at the time.

While the children played, parents of younger elementary and preschool aged children began to arrive at the playground. As the children continued to speak to each other and play, several adults either looked at the children with disgust, or tried to ignore them. The kids, noticing the looks, moved to a retaining wall and sat down eating snacks and talking to each other. I was near the wall watching my own children continue to play.

Two of the children in the group began to use foul language. One adult told one to watch his language. Some began to playfully chase each other around the wall, an adult yells at them to stop running. Neither abnormal for the age group in an urban environment.

As the children began to leave for another section of the playground, a white male, approximately 45 years old, approaches the children and yells at them "Leave or I'm calling the police on you BEASTS! You don't belong here, so get our of here!" A child says, Beast? We come here everyday.

The situation quickly escalated, but before it could get any worse, I intervened. I told the children my name, that I was (___'s) and (___'s) mommy (even though they'd have no clue who my kids were), and asked them to please go by a tree for a moment. They began to move, but the man continued his rant.

The man who had called the children "Beasts" then proceeds to tell me comfortably "Their little asses need to be in jail, little nigger beasts"

I then immediately excuse myself from the conversation and went over to the children.

I'll tell you what I did in a moment, but first, I'd like to get your opinion. What would you have done, if anything?

The givens are as follows:

1. You in no way feel threatened by the children. All children are less than 4 feet tall, no one has weapons, no one is belligerent.
2. You have your two younger children with you
3. You are in a public park/recreation area

Looking forward to your responses.

Sort of tangential but just curious - how were all children less than 4 feet tall if they were between 9-12 years old? My 6 year old is over 4 feet tall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think I would have told the children that what the man said was inappropriate and I would let let their teacher or principal know. I then would take my children and let an administrator at the school know what happened so they can be made aware and also alert the kids parents.

I also would like to thank you for standing up for those children!

OP here, Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Things like this make me ashamed to be white.

Why? You didn't do it and aren't responsible for his behavior. White guilt is boring and phony.

Thank you pp!! I couldn't think of a response to this stupid comment, but you nailed it!

[Anonymous]

I would have been looking for the hidden cameras and thought I was being pranked. That is bizarre behavior by the adult that did that.

[Anonymous]

Sort of tangential but just curious - how were all children less than 4 feet tall if they were between 9-12 years old? My 6 year old is over 4 feet tall.

OP here. Sorry about that. I'm about 5'5 and they were much shorter than me...at most maybe 4'5ish.

Basically these weren't big kids, most responded that they were 5th/6th graders with one saying she was a seventh grader...but most were younger in the group.

Thanks everyone for the feedback...I was wondering if anyone else would have done something similar.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I probably would have called the police.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what you're getting at. If the initial kids weren't with parents, how do you know the adults that showed up were? Did they have kids with them? Are you implying that everyone was white but the initial group of school children and you're some kind of vigilante for justice? Confusing post.

OP can you answer these questions?
-not that poster but don't get it either, how did you know these adults were parents if they didn't have kids with them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The park, school, and rec center are in NE DC.

Once we got to the tree, the conversation was interesting. First thing I did was repeat my name, and I asked them if they were ok. The kids began to unpack the incident, asking questions like, "Are we in trouble? ", and "Why did he say that", and surprisingly from one of the smaller children "What's a beast?".

My heart wanted to break right then and there; we sat and asked each other questions and talked it out. We also made our way into the rec center, told another adult, and later, spoke with a school official.

You seemed to have reacted well. Your posting method is annoying though

Agree. Guess what I did! Let's take a poll! So dumb.

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill? Stanton Park maybe?

[Anonymous]

Op here, regarding the parents question, I'm not certain.

[Anonymous]

No not Capitol Hill. In Michigan Park/Brookland/Catholic U area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here, regarding the parents question, I'm not certain.

And the races?