A young Black woman enjoying herself at a summer party was grabbed and thrown into a pool against her will by two white men.
She looked upset as she yelled, “Please, no, my hair!” but was plunged into the pool anyway.
Whether she was in on the prank or not, the incident has struck a nerve online, as she appeared to be one of the few Black guests at the party.
The widely circulated video has sparked a conversation about being Black in white spaces. One prominent online influencer, ebonywarriorsstudio1, didn’t mince words in a breakdown of the incident.
“That’s how they’ve always viewed us, as property. You cannot be the only Black person in any given situation. In a friend group, in a party setting, whatever it is, you cannot be the only Black person. It is dangerous for your health,” he said.
“She set a boundary over and over again that she did not want to get into that pool.”
Commenters over on Atlanta Black Star’s official Instagram who watched ebonywarriorsstudio1’s video took a more tempered stance.
One person wrote, “This is a reach. Don’t go to a pool party if you don’t want to get wet.”
Another urged people to “relax,” adding: “So many racial attacks on Black folks, that now we’re becoming understandably paranoid.”
The topic of being alone among white people has been making serious headlines recently.
Many say the paranoia is understandable, particularly in the aftermath of the Nolan Xavier Wells tragedy. The 18-year-old football player was reportedly one of a handful of African Americans at a Fourth of July party on Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
On July 6, a park ranger found his lifeless body washed up near the northwestern tip of the island. While the cause and manner of death have yet to be determined, speculation is running rampant online.
But Atlanta Black Star commenters caution against fearmongering or drawing parallels that may not exist. “I don’t think this is the same type of situation as the Nolan situation,” wrote one. “It’s easy to allow our emotions to get the best of us when we are feeling confused, angry, and frustrated, especially now. Every situation looks suspect, but it’s not.”
Another wrote, “People have friends who are not the same race, and that’s ok.”
Whether the pool moment was harmless fun is up to interpretation. But it’s opened up a conversation worth having, especially with so many questions still swirling around Wells’ death.
