What would you do, Incident at Playground

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

What the hell?? Who calls children beasts. It's one thing to tell them to watch their language as some other parents have, but that man was completely and utterly out of line. I would have called the police on HIM.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

I would have told the man to go F&CK himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What the hell?? Who calls children beasts. It's one thing to tell them to watch their language as some other parents have, but that man was completely and utterly out of line. I would have called the police on HIM.

+1 Call the police on the man for hate speech and threatening tone of voice. The older kids have every right to be there.

Tell me the playground and I'll be glad to educate that gentleman.

[Anonymous]

Was this in DC? I may have been a witness to this. . .

[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!

+1

[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!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the hell?? Who calls children beasts. It's one thing to tell them to watch their language as some other parents have, but that man was completely and utterly out of line. I would have called the police on HIM.

+1 Call the police on the man for hate speech and threatening tone of voice. The older kids have every right to be there.

Tell me the playground and I'll be glad to educate that gentleman.

Alleged threats are one thing. But hate speech, in itself, is not prohibited outside of some college campuses. To be sure, hate speech that is arguably part of a threat provides context.

[Anonymous]

i dont believe this happened. If it did give us the school and the playground name.

[Anonymous]

Those children have a right to be there. It is a public space for children. They are children and they are not doing anything that would have justified their removal from the playground.

From the way you describe it, it sounds like the kids were out of earshot. I would have got out my phone (so guy could see it) and tell him that I am going to inform the staff of this school what he just did and said, and that if he does it again, I will notify authorities and assist them in any way I can to get him banned from the playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i dont believe this happened. If it did give us the school and the playground name.

Sadly, I think it could have happened, but I agree that there's no reason why you shouldn't mention the school and playground name. Guy should be shamed. People that frequent the playground should be alert to the fact that there is a racist asshole near their children.

[Anonymous]

Did John Quinonez come running around the corner with his camera crew?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those children have a right to be there. It is a public space for children. They are children and they are not doing anything that would have justified their removal from the playground.

From the way you describe it, it sounds like the kids were out of earshot. I would have got out my phone (so guy could see it) and tell him that I am going to inform the staff of this school what he just did and said, and that if he does it again, I will notify authorities and assist them in any way I can to get him banned from the playground.

Why would they care? The playground isn't on school property.

I love all these people saying they'd do something. The reality is, most of you would do nothing.