The latest case of white folks failing to mind their business involves an elderly California woman who called police on a mother and her sleeping baby as they sat in their car over the weekend.
Video of the incident, posted to Twitter on Sunday, shows the hilariously-dubbed “Parking Lot Barbara” on the phone with the cops, voicing her “concern” about the baby not being properly shielded from the hot California sun.
The video begins in the middle of the woman chiding the young mother, saying,” — Because you told me it was ‘None of your business that your child is in pain.’”
“She’s not in pain — she’s sleeping in her car seat!,” the mother replies, audibly frustrated. “What are you doing? Tell everyone what you’re doing.”
The unnamed woman stopped her call with police when the baby’s father, a white man, confronted her. (Twitter / @Blk_Hermione)
With the phone pressed to her ear, the woman continues with her phone call, telling police, “I have this child here in this car at the PetsMart parking lot, and the sun is kind of beating right at the baby’s face in the back seat. She’s still in a little car seat. I don’t know how old he is.”
The mother interjects,”I’m in the car with her, you f—–g b—h.”
“No you’re not, you’re out here yelling at me,” the nosy woman shoots back.
It’s not long before the young woman’s husband emerges, wondering what all is going on.
“She says the baby is in pain, Elsie is in pain, because she’s sleeping in the sun,” his wife explains. After spotting the woman’s husband, #ParkingLotBarbara conveniently puts her call with police on hold to talk to the “sane” father.
“Oh, because he’s white? Because he’s white, it’s OK because he’s here now?” the mother exclaims. “I was minding my own business sitting in my car!”
Speaking to the woman’s husband, the elderly woman claimed she grew worried when she saw the baby sitting in the hot car, adding that she was unsure if anybody else was inside. The mother angrily interjected again, noting the woman had indeed seen her sitting in the car with her baby daughter.
“One of us at a time,” the elderly woman says as the mother attempts to talk over her. She later added, “It is my business when I mistakenly think the child is in distress.”
The husband eventually gets the woman to admit her mistake, after which she said she could clearly see that the child was “OK now.” She also insisted she couldn’t tell the baby’s father was white because of his large beard and baseball cap.
The viral video sparked plenty of reaction from users online, many of whom argued the woman was racist and was making a big deal out of nothing. Thought it’s unclear what race/ethnicity the mother is, critics speculate she’s either Black or Latina.
It’s also unknown where in California the incident took place.
“#ParkingLotBarbara is the perfect example of how racists think,” one critic tweeted. “Black mother sitting in car with child asleep in her car seat. ‘Barbara’ plainly sees Black mother in car and calls the police saying baby is in pain. White husband/father comes out and all is fine because he’s ‘sane.’ ”
“WTH, she called the cops?!” another user chimed in, noting that, “Baby in car seat, dad went shopping and mom stayed in car with baby. -Adult supervising child; if child in need, adult there to provide care. Car windows are tinted to protect passengers from sun.”
“#ParkingLotBarbara should’ve minded her own business,” he added.
One critic highlighted how “Barbara” gave police misleading information, basically accusing the mother of leaving her child in a hot car.
“Wtf is wrong with people???? A baby & mother sitting in a car with the AC on is perfectly normal!,” she wrote. “#ParkingLotBarbara needs to worry more about her racism & less about a good mom not wanting to wake her tired baby!”
Watch more in the clip below.
https://twitter.com/Blk_Hermione/status/1046175005879353344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1046175005879353344&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Flifestyle%2Fparking-lot-barbara-elderly-woman-calls-police-mother-sitting-car-baby-172147335.html
