A California woman, armed with a taser, tells her neighbors they need to act more like white people.
What We Know:
- A video surfaced on Twitter of the situation. The video shows a white neighbor, Adana Dean, with her dog and a taser in hand. Dean confronted her neighbors, a black family, claiming their pit bull attacked her dog. The Jones family politely asks Dean to leave. Dean becomes more upset and tells the Jones, “You are a Black person in a white neighborhood, and you’re acting like one. Why don’t you act like a white person in a white neighborhood?”.
- The post was made by Jariell Jones, the woman of the family in the video. The Twitter post includes footage she recorded herself as well as footage from their security cameras. “I am TIRED of living this way,” Jariell wrote in her Twitter post. “I am TIRED of passive-aggressiveness. I am TIRED of the fake smiles. I am TIRED that I don’t feel safe in a house that I’ve lived in for 10+ years cause of the color of my skin”. Jariell has also been responding to comments saying this was a one-off incident. She says, “Do you live in my skin? Do you know what I deal with everyday as a black woman? No. So stfu.”
- Dean mentions the race multiple times. “You know what? You guys are acting like Black people when you shouldn’t. You should act like white people,” she declares. When asked to repeat her statement, she tells the family she used to live in Oklahoma City, “where there were tons of Black people.” When asking Dean again how they are acting, she responds, “I was raised in Oklahoma City, where there were tons of Black people,” she explains. “You’re like people… that aren’t normal.”.
- Gerritt Jones, the man of the family in the video, tells Dean he has video footage of her petting their pitbull. She denies, “I didn’t pet the dog,” but then adds: “I pet the dog because I wanted to see if he was okay.” and Dean later threatens the family, “You know where you’re gonna go? You’re gonna go to Hell,” she warns. “Because I’m going to sue the hell out of you. Both of you.”.
- The family has lived in the house for twelve years. They said that they have never had any problems with Dean until now. In an interview by ABC7, Gerritt was asked what he thought Dean meant by her statements, “normal to her is people who will lay down and submit to, unfortunately, her white privilege and white supremacy.”
The family has stayed strong through the incident and hopes to turn the experience into a lesson. Gerritt, the father of a 13-year-old son, told ABC7, “I want my son to grow up and be proud of who he is. I hope that people all over the country learn from this see that this can’t be tolerated”. They even have a new family slogan, “We’re going to act Black in our white neighborhood.”
