A woman is being hailed as a hero for shutting down police questioning of a young Black man in the most heart-warming way possible.
While a woman known as “herbalgoddess” on TikTok was walking down a sidewalk in Broward County, Florida, she saw the flashing lights of a police vehicle, and at least two officers standing on the sidewalk. The ruckus was centered on a teen sitting calmly on a patch of grass in front of a commercial strip.
“Let’s see what they’re doing with this young Black man, see if I can help him out!” she wrote in the video’s caption. In a clever move, quick-thinking “herbalgoddess” hatched a plan to pretend she was the stranger’s Auntie. “What you gonna see in the video [is that] he recognized the Auntie right away, he stood on code. He understood the assignment and got up.”
The woman filmed as she put her plan into action.
@herbalgoddess.com Part two 🫶🏽🙌🏾✊🏾✊🏾the conclusion ended fine! I took him away from there we went together and I dropped him off at a different location. Make sure he had some money and talk with him just the other day he’s fine.
♬ original sound – herbalgoddess.com
“Were you waiting on me? [It’s] Auntie… Come on! I’m sorry you’re sitting on the side,” she called out, drawing the officers’ attention. Without missing a beat, the young man made a beeline for her, and the two pretended to be family in an attempt to avoid further questioning by police — questioning that some viewers believed was unwarranted.
“They clearly had no reason to be holding him because they quickly let him go…smh,” wrote one commenter on Atlanta Black Star’s official Instagram.
The moment had many viewers in tears. Over on TikTok, one person exclaimed, “Sitting here with tears welling up in my eyes! We all need an auntie to come through 4 us @ one point or another.” Another wrote, “The way he went to her, he must have been so scared.”
While we don’t know the reason the young man was questioned, police harassment is real. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of Black adults, both men and women, say they’ve experienced racially biased police stops, compared to fewer than one in ten white adults.
Commenters are celebrating the story as an example of the power of community—as well as the power of bystander intervention. In this case, just a friendly greeting and a simple distraction went a long way, as the man appeared free to go once “herbalgoddess” intervened.
“She was and IS his Auntie. This was both beautiful and scary to watch. Shout out to this sister who did the damn thang. Not to mention she played them cops like lotto. Just beautiful!!” wrote one Atlanta Black Star Reader.
“Putting this one in my toolbox,” wrote one person. “We are all aunties.”
