If there is one thing white people refuse to do, it’s let Black people live in peace.
A white couple in Long Island is facing charges after allegedly harassing their neighbor, a Black woman, for years.
NBC News reports that Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced John McEneaney, 57, was charged with criminal mischief and harassment, and his girlfriend, 53-year-old Mindy Canarick, was charged with criminal tampering. In July, the case went viral after Jennifer McLeggan, a Black woman, posted a letter that was several feet long to her front door. The letter outlined the various ways Canarick and McEneaney have harassed her in the three years since she’s moved into her home.
McLeggan alleged that McEneaney had consistently fired pellets from a pellet gun across her lawn from April 2017 to July 2020. In 2019, McLeggan allegedly witnessed Canarick throwing dog feces onto her property when she was returning home from work. McLeggan won a judgement in small claims court for $5,036.24 against Canarick that same year. While McLeggan believes that harassment has been racially motivated, hate crime charges have not been filed.
“While we did not find evidence to support a hate crime charge, this kind of persistent harassment is never acceptable,” the district attorney said in a stream. “This conduct crossed the line between being a bad neighbor and into the realm of criminality.”
After posting the letter to her door, the community quickly rallied around McLeggan. In July, a rally was held in support of McLeggan shortly after she posted the letter. One man, who goes by the name of Flow, has spent the last 37 days keeping guard outside of McLeggan’s home. She frequently posts appreciation tweets to the people in her neighborhood who have come by to show support. In a recent interview with Desus and Mero, McLeggan spoke about just how many people in the community have begun to look out for her.
Predictably, while leaving court on Monday, McEneaney told reporters that he and his partner were innocent and that they were the real victims. Oh white people, when will you learn that being in the presence of a Black person does not count as being victimized?