A Black family in Discovery Bay, California is speaking out after they were confronted by a “Karen” for acting Black in their “white neighborhood.”
As ABC 7 reported, Adana Dean — a white woman — approached Gerritt Jones and his family with a stun gun in hand, claiming their dog attacked hers. During the encounter, she asked them why they weren’t acting like white people given the “white neighborhood” they live in.
Audio from cell phone and surveillance video further captures the verbal exchange. In one clip, Dean tells the Jones family, “You know what? You guys are acting like Black people, and you should act like white people.”
“You’re a Black person in a white neighborhood and you’re acting like one. Why don’t you act like a white person in a white neighborhood?” Dean asks in another video, later claiming the family was “acting like people who aren’t normal.”
Jones said he and his family have lived in the neighborhood for 12 years and had pleasant interactions with Dean and her family up until the recent encounter. Though he was confused by the situation, he said he knew it was important for him — a Black man — to remain calm and prevent the story from being twisted. “She had a stun gun, and if my sister or any of them got physical with her, the story would’ve been here this Black family is assaulting just white lady in the streets,” he said.
He further acknowledged that Dean is probably accustomed to “people who will lay down and submit to unfortunately her white privilege and white supremacy,” but said he refuses to back down as he wants his son to “be proud” of being Black. “I want my son to grow up and be proud of who he is. I hope that people all over the country learn from this see that this can’t be tolerated,” Jones explained.
Following the incident, the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff told ABC 7 that “no crime had been committed,” but “a report was taken to document the interaction between the two neighbors.”
Dean’s husband declined to comment on the incident, only stating the encounter between his wife and the Jones family was a “minor incident.”