

A woman called the police on a mother sitting in a car with her baby, and social media is wondering, is she racist or a concerned citizen?

Over the weekend, the hashtag #ParkingLotBarbara flew through Twitter due to a video featuring a California woman calling law enforcement on a mother and her baby who were sitting in their car. The woman was concerned, she said, because the child wasn’t properly shielded from the sun’s rays.

A woman — whom the internet named “Parking Lot Barbara” — called the police on a mother and her baby who were sitting in their car. (Screenshot: Twitter/@Blk_Hermione)

The footage starts with the woman admonishing the mother, “Because you told me it was ‘None of your business that your child is in pain,'” as she held a cellphone to her ear.

“She’s not in pain — she’s sleeping in her car seat,” replied the mother. “What are you doing? Tell everyone what you’re doing.”

The woman spoke into the phone, “I have this child here in this car at the PetSmart parking lot and the sun is kind of beating right at the baby’s face in the back seat. She’s still in a little car seat, I don’t know how old she is.”

A California white woman calls the cops on Hispanic mom who was sitting in her air-conditioned car with her baby. Why can't these racists leave POC alone and mind their own damn business? Please retweet pic.twitter.com/2gcsMWPi0M — 🧙🏾‍♀️💫 (@Blk_Hermione) September 29, 2018

“In the car with her!” insisted the mother. The woman answered, “No, you’re not, you’re out here yelling at me.”

The mother’s husband then emerged. “She says Elsie is in pain … because she’s sleeping in the sun…” said his partner.

The woman continued her call, “Now she’s outside yelling at me. She wasn’t in the car.” When she spotted the husband, the woman placed the call on hold and the mom exclaimed, “Oh, because he’s white? Because he’s white, it’s OK because he’s here now?”

“Because he’s acting sane — you’re screaming at me,” said the woman, adding that she hadn’t seen an adult present. Then she turned to the mother — who pointed out that she did see her — and scolded her, “One of us at a time.” The woman also told the mom, “It is my business when I mistakenly think the child is in distress.”

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The husband then asked the woman to admit her mistake, and she replied, “Yes, I can see that she’s OK now.” She also insisted that she didn’t realize the baby’s father was white, due to his baseball hat and beard.

The people in the video are anonymous, but the video may have originated with the Twitter account @Blk_Hermione, which tweeted Saturday, “A California white woman calls the cops on [a] Hispanic mom who was sitting in her air-conditioned car with her baby. Why can’t these racists leave POC alone and mind their own damn business?”

@Blk_Hermione did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. It’s also unclear where in California the video was filmed (and a representative of the Los Angeles Police Department did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment).

A majority of users on Twitter claimed the woman’s actions were racist and that she escalated a clearly innocent situation; others argued that she had good intentions and simply got confused.

Hmm, I'm not taking up for the old white woman, but this is a case of an old busy body not minding her own business. Stop making this racial or accusing "every" white person of being racist. That old lady was concerned for a kid and yes she was nosy. — Jody Khrestinin (@fireyprincess46) September 30, 2018

I thought that too- until she called the POLICE! After discovering that the mother was in the car with the air conditioning on! Wtf was that for? — Rose von Perbandt (@MiraclesArt) September 30, 2018

#ParkingLotBarbara is the perfect example of how racists think. Black mother sitting in car with child asleep in her carseat. "Barbara" plainly sees black mother in car and calls the police saying baby is in pain. White husband/father comes out and all is fine because he's "sane" — Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) October 1, 2018

Why is it only #WhiteWomen who make these calls? Is it an organized plot: white woman calls police; #police shoots #POC? — DREAMstudio (@Comfey__) September 30, 2018

Children have been dying left in hot cars, two of them on Friday in FL.

That said, a child sitting in air conditioning with a parent is not at all the same thing.

As soon as busybody noticed someone else in the car, she should have just said "have a nice day" and moved along. — rose thornne (@rosethornne) October 1, 2018

#ParkingLotBarbara in California decided it was her business, and called the cops on a woman that was sitting in the vehicle with her child. Minding your own business has never hurt anyone, some should really learn how to do that more often. pic.twitter.com/muCWuoUtuM — Jimmy ✊🏾#PowerToThePeople (@jwheels74) September 30, 2018

The white husband shows up and this lady's attitude completely changes. ffs where do these people come from? #ParkingLotBarbara https://t.co/EIZYDWYqny — Michelle Berry 🌊🇺🇸 (@Michell89416522) September 30, 2018

1. Okay, don't get mad at me, but if at all possible, I always hung some piece of cloth up so my kids would be shaded from the sun. I don't like the woman's personality either, but if she was concerned about my own child I wouldn't be angry or call her a bitch. Just saying. — Linda (@LindaWesson) September 30, 2018

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