A Black family is going public about their experience with a white neighbor demanding that they “stop acting Black,” while wielding a stun gun at them.
The incident started when the woman, identified by ABC 7 as Adana Dean, who lives across the street from Gerritt Jones and his family, accused them of allowing their Pitbull to roam without a leash. Dean says their dog attacked her dog. The family unequivocally denies that their dog, Dice, was off-leash.
In surveillance and cell phone video provided by the Jones family to ABC 7 news, you can hear Dean say "You know what? You guys are acting like Black people and you should act like white people."
WARNING: VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
In another clip, Dean can be heard saying to the family, "You're 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?" Adding that she was raised in Oklahoma City "where there were tons of Black people."
The Jones family says this is the first time things have been confrontational with their neighbor in the 12 years that they’ve lived in Discovery Bay. The Jones’ 13-year-old son had recently taken the woman’s dog for a walk, and Dean was captured on video petting the Jones’ Pitbull.
"She had a stun gun and if my sister or any of them got physical with her the story would've been here this Black family is assaulting this white lady in the streets," Jones tells ABC7.
The family says they’re trying to use this as a teaching moment for their children and other Black Americans.
The Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff sent this statement to ABC7 news:
"The Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff takes these types of acts seriously. Deputy Sheriffs responded to the home yesterday and contacted both parties involved. Although Deputies determined that no crime had been committed, a report was taken to document the interaction between the two neighbors, as the original complaint was in reference to a neighbor dispute due to an off-leash dog. The Office of the Sheriff will refer the case to Contra Costa Animal Services."