By RNN Staff
(RNN) – A black man in Georgia who was babysitting white children had the police called on him by a white woman outside a Walmart this weekend.
The man, Corey Lewis, runs a youth mentoring program called Inspired By Lewis and was looking after the children of his friends Dana Mango and David Parker in Marietta, according to Yahoo Lifestyle.
He told the outlet a white woman “pulled up alongside us and asked, ‘Are the kids OK?’” after he took them to a Subway sandwich store inside the Walmart.
“I answered, ‘Why wouldn’t they be?’ She just smirked and drove off,” Lewis told Yahoo.
The children’s mother, Mango, told Yahoo she “thought it was a joke” when police called her.
“I said, ‘Is it because there’s an African American male driving my kids around?’ and the officer, who was embarrassed and apologetic, said, ‘It appears so,'" Mango said.
Lewis posted a video of his encounter with Cobb County Police on Facebook.
“This lady from Walmart harassed, followed, & called the cops on me ALL because I’m black and have 2 white kids with me,” he wrote.
In the video, the officer approaches him and explains he’s conducting an “OK check, just to make sure everything’s alright” because the woman who called police thought the situation was “suspicious.”
The children explain to the officer that everything is normal after he asks them a few times if they’re OK.
“I’m letting the world know what’s really going on. It’s 2018 and I can’t step out into the community without being profiled,” Lewis says during the video.
It ends with the officer saying, “Everything seems to be cool.”
According to its website, “Inspired by Lewis’s mission is to provide enrichment to socially challenged youth by promoting positive character development, self-awareness, and life skills that will cultivate our next generation of innovative leaders.”
It adds that Lewis works with youth “to uncover hidden talents, overcome obstacles, enhance confidence, and help them to realize that success is within their reach but also comes with hard work and determination.”
Mango told Yahoo her kids “were both fearful that Corey wouldn’t be able to babysit them anymore.”
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