As previously reported by REVOLT, in October 2022, 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson was playing outside her New Jersey home when she decided to rid the area of an invasive bug species — something she’d learned from her elementary school. Using a homemade solution consisting of apple cider vinegar, water and dish soap, the little girl sprayed lanternflies, which are known to wreak havoc on the ecosystem and agriculture by feeding on important plants and crops.
Somehow, Wilson’s neighbor, Republican Gordon Lawshe, felt threatened by this and called the police. “There’s a little Black woman walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing. It scares me, though,” he reportedly said on 911 audio. Many were outraged that such a simple and pure act, a child practicing something she learned in school to help the environment, could result in cops being dispatched.
In a post from NPR published earlier this week, the outlet noted that Wilson recently received recognition for safely and effectively ridding her area of intrusive lanternflies. On Jan. 20, a ceremony was held at the Yale School of Public Health to thank the fourth grader for her contributions to environmental science. “We wanted to show her bravery and how inspiring she is, and we just want to make sure she continues to feel honored and loved by the Yale community,” a statement from Ijeoma Opara, an assistant professor at the school, read. “Yale doesn’t normally do anything like this… This is something unique to Bobbi,” Opara added.
Wilson’s collection of 27 lanternflies will now be proudly displayed in the Peabody Museum of Natural History database. Yale also gave her the distinguished title of “donor scientist.” In a city council meeting last November, following Lawshe’s unwarranted call to the cops, Wilson’s older sister spoke highly of the young pupil and her actions: “She was not only doing something amazing for our environment, she was doing something that made her feel like a hero.”