Renting a U-Haul While Being Black

 

Charles McMillon Jr., his 10-year-old son, and Kendrick Clemons had just dropped off a U-Haul van at Fountain Plaza parking lot, in Tallahassee, Florida, when suddenly bullets began whizzing around them. McMillon and the two others were sitting in their own vehicle, typing mileage numbers into the U-Haul  app, the way rentals like this work, when Wallace Fountain and his wife, Beverly Fountain, began shooting at them.  Luckily, McMillon quickly drove off before anyone got hurt.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the Fountains are the owners of the strip mall and had decided to set up a vigilante sting, hiding inside of another U-Haul vehicle. The couple told authorities that they were trying to stop people from syphoning off and stealing gas. Of course, McMillion, his son, and his friend weren’t doing anything illegal-- in fact, they were sitting in their own car, not anywhere near the gas tank of a U-haul vehicle.  Wonder what made the Fountains think the McMillons were suspicous?  Hmmm.  

 The fact is, the McMillons seem to have been the only people in that parking lot following the law.  As it turns out,  a Tallahassee police officer was parked in the same strip mall when he heard the shots and was able to verify that nothing out of the ordinary was happening between McMillon, his child, and their family friend.  The Fountains are now facing charges of aggravated assault.

The Fountains claimed they were not shooting at the family, but in the air, “only to scare the individuals they suspected were stealing gasoline." According to the police, the Fountains were carrying three pistols in hand at the time, with a shotgun in their stakeout U-Haul, along with an additional two magazines of ammo.   Beverly Fountain said this wasn’t a race issue. “Were they Black? We weren’t going off on that at all," she said.  So let me get this-- if the Fountains couldn't see that the three people they were shooting at were black, they're essentially admitting they fired their weapons without looking first-- which endangers countless others. 

McMillon and Clemons are now suing both U-Haul and the Fountains over the ordeal, saying they hoped to bring more light to how Black citizens are living. Clemons told reporters that “We’re hopeful now more than ever that this country finally sees that Black lives do matter. This isn’t just a movement. This is a way of life for millions of minorities, a way of life in which we are targeted by police, the justice system and civilians all because we ‘fit the description.’"

Clemons also pointed out that the Fountains are out on bail-- something that exposes the two different justice systems for whites and blacks.  “If we’re the ones shooting at them, we would still be in jail right now, probably with no bond, probably with intent to kill. But they got to walk free," said Clemons

The reason we have laws against vigilantism is because it is dangerous. But it is important to understand that there is no such thing as a black vigilante in America-- only white ones. A Black person taking “the law into their own hands” is simply a criminal, a felon, or a “thug.”