By Gary Norris Gray, Staff Reporter

OAKLAND — What is wrong with you America? We are in a moment in time in which the political and social climate of this country has emboldened individuals who harbor resentment against people of color. These people use their power and control to strike out and use the police as their tool to reinforce American institutionalized racism.

This has become an epidemic; a woman on Sunday in Ponte Vedra, Florida started harassing a Black father at a soccer game. “Golf Cart Gail” just would not let it go.

The father offered to leave the game but that came too late. Golf Cart Gail had already called the police, fearing for her life.

When the Saint Johns County Sheriff arrived the woman, who happened to be the soccer field marshal, and the Black parents were still talking and arguing.

No charges have been filed but Golf Cart Gail never identified herself. This soccer game had earlier incidents with other parents so the atmosphere was already tense.

It continued last week with “Apartment Patty,” Hilary Brooke Mueller following a Black man, D-Arreion Toles, to his apartment in Saint Louis, Missouri because she thought he did not belong there, just because of his skin tone and a male.

This lady tried to block the door and not let him in the building, following him up the elevator to his door. This is perceived to be stalking and if the roles were reverse; this young male would be in jail.

Once he pulled out his key to the apartment and put it in the door, this conversation should have ended. This young woman was fired from her job, but what will it take to stop this social racial injustice.

Another woman called the police in Brooklyn, New York on a Black eight-year-old boy for sexual harassment because she thought the boy had fondled her butt; instead, it was his book bag that had touched her.

“Corner Store Caroline”-Teresa Klein would later apologize after viewing the store video.

That eight-year-old young man will never forget this incident and this is happening all over the country to our young Black people. This is psychological warfare and it is aimed directly at African American males.

“Barbecue Becky,”- Jennifer Schulte, called the Oakland Police Department because Black people were using coals to fire up their barbecue grills on Lake Merritt. She stated that these individuals, mostly men were barbecuing in a non-designated area. Ms. Schulte was fired from her job.

But there was something very disturbing about this call. The operator asked her what she looked like and what was her race? She declined to tell the operator. Question, how will the police know who you are if they don’t know what you look like?

Young black females are not immune to these insidious incidents. “Permit Patty,”-Alison Ettel, called the San Francisco Police Department on a nine-year-old girl for selling water on the street in front of her home.

Ettel stated that she was only bluffing and the SFPD confirmed that no complaint was ever filed. Ms. Ettel lost her job and the eight-year-old got a free ride to Disneyland.

This is how crazy it is getting. In another incident, a young black male was babysitting two white kids for a friend in Texas to earn money for school; somebody called the police.

REALLY, STOP IT… JUST STOP IT.

These complaining persons might have lost their jobs but it could have been life-threatening to those African Americans. If miscommunication occurs between the responding police and the perceived lawbreakers, misfortune could follow.

This is the potential for danger because when police enter a Black home or are denied access to these places it could result in shooting Black people in their own apartments and homes. Black lives are at stake. It is not funny anymore.

The complainers most likely never took the time to take this into account nor did they care. They called the police because they could. They called the police because they feared for their lives, they called the police to reinforce the institutionalized racism that is currently running rampant in this country.

If we truly want these incidents to stop, the perpetrators must be prosecuted for the crimes they committed when they make false police reports, harass law-abiding citizens, or make terroristic threats.

Now just think, these are the incidents we know about and have been reported, nobody has been hurt or killed yet. If this continues somebody is going to lose their lives over stupidity.

They are going to lose their lives because that someone could not have a decent conversation about the problem at hand before calling the authorities. A death is going to happen and then WHAT? It is just a matter of time.

Just living in America while being Black.

Gary Norris Gray – Writer, Author, Historian, Gibbs Magazine-Oakland, California and New England Informer- Boston, Mass. THE GRAYLINE:- The Analects of A Black Disabled Man, The Gray Leopard Cove, Soul Tree Radio In The Raw, and The Batchelor Pad Network, Disabled Community Activist. Email Glcgray@gmail.com

©Copyrighted Gary Norris Gray @ Gray Leopard Prod