Corey Lewis, from Marietta, Georgia recently had an altercation with the police - all because he was babysitting. On Sunday, a woman called the police on him after seeing him looking after the 10-year-old daughter and six-year-old son of his friends.
He was treating them to lunch at a Subway when the 27-year-old, who runs a youth mentoring program, came into contact with a woman. “She pulled up alongside us and asked, ‘Are the kids OK?'” Lewis told Yahoo Lifestyle. “I answered, ‘Why wouldn’t they be?’ She just smirked and drove off.”
She later circled the parking lot and returned, asking, “Can I ask the little girl if she knows who you are?” Lewis answered no to the stranger, to which she said, “OK, I will take down your license plate,” and left the scene.
“I asked a few white witnesses if it looked suspicious that I was caring for two white children, and they said ‘Kind of,'” Lewis said. “But the kids were goofing around and eating, and there was no sign of danger.”
Lewis noticed the car again when he was later pumping gas, and became concerned for the children's safety. So, he drove to his house, and when he arrived - the woman followed him, along with a police car. “I didn’t do anything — the police is here now!” Lewis said in a Facebook Live video, which has now amassed over 460,000 views. “I’m being followed and harassed.”
"This lady from Walmart harassed, followed, & called the cops on me," he wrote. "ALL because I’m black and have 2 white kids with me."
After the officer spoke to Lewis, seeming sympathetic, he called the children's mother, who was mortified over what had happened. Speaking to Yahoo, she said:
“I thought it was a joke. I said, ‘Is it because there’s an African-American male driving my kids around?’ and the officer, who was embarrassed and apologetic, said, ‘It appears so.'
“My son said, ‘The woman followed us because we have peachy skin and Mr. Lewis has brown skin, and she thought he was kidnapping us.’ They were both fearful that Corey wouldn’t be able to babysit them anymore.”
“A black man with white children just didn’t look right in this woman’s eyes,” Lewis said of the event.
Thankfully, this incident didn't get any worse for Lewis, but it has still shown how many still racially profile, even in mundane situations such as this. Since the video went viral, the hashtag #babysittingwhileblack has been used to describe the event.