A video of a little girl defending her mother after the parent appeared to be wrongfully accused of shoplifting has sparked debate on social media.
The video, which was first posted on TikTok by @theorginalityshow, shows a girl who looks to be no older than 9 years old screaming at two cops as they appear to detain her mother. The emblem on one of the officers’ uniforms shows that they are employed by the New York Police Department.
“Leave my mother alone!” The girl yells before pausing to take a breath. “Before it be a motherf-ing problem,” she continues while censoring the profane word.
The camera then pans to the mother, who is standing diagonally from a male officer, with an umbrella, purse, and Zara bag scattered on the ground. A dispatcher on the officer’s radio then describes the suspect as a Black woman with long braids wearing a white T-shirt and white baseball cap.
“Which glasses did I steal from Moncler’s?” the mother, who is wearing a gray mid-length dress and sneakers, asks the male cop.
“Mommy, I know who did it,” the girl interjects. The video then cuts away before returning to the woman repeating the question. The girl turns to the person behind the camera and points and yells, “Stop recording it, now! You should not be recording it without our permission!”
The mother confirms that the person was filming the interaction for her safety while holding back the girl from further confrontation. The child then reveals to the officers that the suspect they’re looking for is her aunt and is not her mother.
“Do she have a f—-king white T-shirt on? No!” she yells, this time using colorful language. “On my soul, leave my mother alone!”
A third officer appears in a second video and tries to calm down the girl as she continues to have a meltdown.
“I am going to kill somebody! I am going to punch somebody in the face. Leave me alone,” the child yells. As the child seemingly tries to calm down, her mother starts to explode on the cops shortly before she is handcuffed, sending the girl on another emotional spiral. She breaks down in tears after seeing her mother in the back of a patrol vehicle. Her mother asks one of the officers to comfort the girl.
“Juju, listen. Mommy is asking you to calm down. Please calm down, OK,” the cop tells the girl. He then allows her to kiss her mother goodbye.
The first video on the interaction between Juju and her mother was viewed over 1.4 million times on TikTok and was reposted on X and Instagram.
Many viewers empathized with the small girl, who they concluded pleaded because she was afraid for her mother, while others said that her behavior seemed to be triggered by some deeper issues.
“The tone, the language, the anger, this child has seen & been through a lot already,” one viewer wrote. “She is scared for her life,” another viewer wrote in all caps.
However, some viewers were critical of the language used by the child. “So sad on so many levels. Her mouth and disrespect is disheartening,” one user wrote.
Still, the criticism was scarce as most viewers applauded the young girl for her strength in standing up for her mother and her intelligence while pointing out the apparent injustice.
“That girl is braver than most adults. Bless her deep love and protection for her mother,” one viewer wrote. “It’s sad that she has to defend her mother like this,” wrote another.
