The great philosopher Jay-Z once said, “It cost you nothing, pay me no mind,” but apparently there are plenty of white people out there who don’t understand the concept of minding their own business. Especially when it comes to calling the police on Black people who’ve mastered the art of MYOB.
Take for example this random white woman in Portland, Oregon, who was put on the Summer Jam screen after calling the local parking enforcement office on a Black couple for parking too close to the crosswalk.
Rashsaan Muhammad and Mattie Khan weren’t even planning on doing any long-term parking, because they were waiting for a food order, but that didn’t stop Crosswalk Cathy from being irritated with their parking.
This lady called the police on me because she says my car was blocking the cross walk.🤷🏽‍♀️ crosswalk Cathy
Posted by Mattie Khan on Monday, October 29, 2018
Khan posted the incident to Facebook, as it unfolded.
“You can’t block the crosswalk,” the woman says. “Look at this — you are.”
In an interview with the Portland Mercury, Muhammad, a Portland native, explained why the situation was frustrating.
“It’s part of a bigger problem that we as a community need to address,” Muhammad said. “New people come in and change a neighborhood and it causes these kind of stressful situations,” he said. “We don’t interact with each other they way we used to.”
Basically, gentrification and newbies coming into the neighborhood acting like they run everything.
“We’ve watching this city change,” said Muhammad. “And we can’t let this keep happening to our community.”
“She didn’t try to talk to us, she just called the police,” Muhammad said. “Why would people spend the time just trying to make our lives harder instead of talking it out like neighbors?”
One of these days some white person is going to call the cops or authorities on the wrong Black person, and learn a lesson the hard way.
Mind your business, white people. Just mind your business.
