“Evil neighbors called the cops on a 9-year-old black boy, hoping he’ll be removed from the neighborhood. But then they immediately regret making the call. Even at just 9 years old, Tristan was well aware that not everyone in the neighborhood was friendly towards his family. They hadn’t been living there long, but the young boy had seen the suspicious glances he would get when he was out riding his bike, or how his mom and dad would smile and wave at some of the neighbors, only to be ignored in return.
His parents had wanted to move to a quiet neighborhood, and when they’d seen the perfect house up for sale, they knew it was the right time. They immediately fell in love with the house, and the quiet, tree-lined road with its neat yard seemed like the perfect place to bring up their son.
When they’d first moved, they’d been delighted and keen to get to know their neighbors, hosting get-togethers and barbecues to integrate themselves into the community. And for the most part, people welcomed them. But their new street was right in the heart of a predominantly white neighborhood, and as a black family, some of the neighbors were less welcoming. It didn’t matter that Tristan’s parents had good jobs, raised their son to be polite and thoughtful, or that they wanted to help out in the neighborhood. All some of the neighbors saw was a black family, and to them, that meant trouble.
It started small, not returning a wave or not saying good morning. But when they didn’t deter the family, things ramped up. One day, Tristan was out on his bike when he returned home in tears. His mom immediately assumed her son had fallen off his bike, but when she couldn’t see any cuts or scrapes, she asked what had happened. The young boy was heartbroken, but when he’d finally calmed down, he told his mom he’d been riding his bike up and down the street as usual when he noticed one of the neighbors watching him through the window. He tried to ignore them, but 10 minutes later, they were still there. And when Tristan tried smiling at them, the lady had opened her window and told Tristan to go back where he came from.
His mother was furious that her son had been verbally abused. Not only was the behavior racist, but it was also wholly inaccurate considering the entire family, right back to the great-great-grandparents, had been born and raised in Georgia. She was ready to go around and give the neighbor a piece of her mind. But when her husband returned home from work, he calmed her down. He made her realize it would only play into the beliefs that some of the neighbors held about them. So she let the incident slide. Besides, the neighbor in question lived the furthest away from them, so they wouldn’t ever really have to see her.
For a while, Tristan refused to go out and play. His mother hated that her son felt like he couldn’t play just because of one or two small-minded people in the neighborhood. Everyone else had been very welcoming, and Tristan had quickly made friends with most of the kids on his street. And now he was missing out. Thankfully, though, a few weeks after the incident, the young boy seemed to regain his confidence and began to play out with his friends once again.
Some time passed, and it seemed like the few evil neighbors who had tried to push them out realized that they weren’t going anywhere. The family was quite happy to just ignore the one or two ignorant neighbors, and they soon settled into their new home. But just when they thought things had gotten better, Tristan once again returned home in tears. The young boy had been out with his friends when their ball had landed in a neighbor’s yard. Unfortunately, the neighbor just happened to be the same woman that had shouted at Tristan before. When the young boy realized where the ball was, he refused to go and collect it, asking one of his friends to go instead. But the neighbor had been watching from behind the curtains and immediately came marching out of the house, accusing Tristan of kicking the ball into her yard on purpose.
The terrified young boy tried to explain that it wasn’t even him that had kicked the ball into her yard, but the evil neighbor wasn’t listening. She lifted up the garbage bag she’d been carrying and emptied the contents all over Tristan’s head. The young boy was completely humiliated and immediately burst into tears. Thankfully, his friends had parents who had brought them up right. So while one of them comforted Tristan and walked him home, the rest began to gather up the trash from the street in order to keep the neighborhood tidy.
When their parents found out what had happened, they too were furious at the evil neighbor. But it was nothing compared to how Tristan’s mom was feeling. When she opened the door and saw her son covered in old food and his friend with his arm wrapped around Tristan’s shoulders, she didn’t even need to ask what had happened. She knew the evil neighbor had something to do with her son looking the way that he now did. She thanked the friend for being so kind then ushered her son into the house.
Tristan was inconsolable as he tried to explain through deep sobs what had happened. He was adamant that he wasn’t the one who had kicked the ball and that no one had done it on purpose. They were just playing a game and had lost control of the ball. The young boy wasn’t a liar, and his mom believed him. Even if it had been done on purpose, it didn’t warrant what the neighbor had done. But it was clear that she’d singled Tristan out on purpose.
Whilst her son got a shower to rinse off all the old food, her anger grew. She could still hear Tristan crying in the shower. She found her husband and told him exactly what had happened. But this time, there was no calming her down. Enough was enough. Her husband left work early in the hopes that he could diffuse the situation. But it was too late. As he pulled onto the street, he could see his wife banging on the neighbor’s door.
When the evil neighbor answered the door, she just smirked at the black woman standing in front of her. She told Tristan’s mom that she was fed up with seeing the boy because he did nothing but cause trouble. So she’d emptied the trash over him because that was exactly what the family was, trash. Tristan’s mom saw red. Her son had never done anything to cause any trouble. She was just about to lunge forward at the neighbor when Tristan’s dad stepped between them and guided his wife home.
That night, some of their friends from the street gathered at Tristan’s house to try and make them feel better. They all agreed that the neighbor was evil. But if Tristan’s mom displayed any aggression, then she would just get the excuse that she needed to call the cops. Knowing that her friends and her husband were right, she agreed to stay well out of the way of the neighbor and would tell Tristan not to play anywhere near the house.
This time, Tristan didn’t bounce back quite so easily. He once again stopped going out and would just shut himself away in his room for hours at a time. His parents were becoming concerned. So when he came to them one evening with an idea, they were overjoyed. Tristan’s parents had always worked hard, something which they had
always tried to instill in their son. They enjoyed a comfortable life, but it always worked for anything they wanted in life. And they hoped their son would be the same.
One evening, whilst they were eating, Tristan told his parents he wanted a new PlayStation. His current gaming console was getting old, and a lot of his friends now gamed online in teams. But what Tristan said next filled his parents with pride. Rather than expecting his parents to buy him a new PlayStation, Tristan told them that he’d been thinking of ways he could save up some money to pay for the PlayStation himself. His parents already gave him a small allowance for doing chores around the house, so he told them he would be saving that. But he’d been thinking about what else he could do to make money.
He decided he wanted to offer to do yard work for the neighbors. There were quite a few elderly people in the area, and he knew they struggled with cutting the grass and pulling up weeds. So he would offer to do the jobs they couldn’t do or didn’t want to do for a small fee. His parents saw no problem with this at all. They were delighted that their son was taking the initiative to earn his own money, but that he wanted to help the people around him too. Their hearts swelled with pride as they realized that all the morals they tried to instill into him had worked.
They had one condition though: he wasn’t to go anywhere near the evil neighbor’s house. It was a rule Tristan was more than happy to abide by. That weekend, Tristan headed out in search of work. He’d been out a few hours doing odd jobs, and most of the neighbors welcomed him, pleased to see that the boy wanted to work. Tristan knew it would take a while to save up enough money, but some of the neighbors had already told him that they were happy for him to come back every few weeks to keep their yards well maintained. The young boy was overjoyed with the success he was having.
But he had no idea that the evil neighbor was watching him, hidden behind her curtains. The evil neighbor was growing more incensed that the young boy was being welcomed into people’s homes. His family had no right to live in their nice neighborhood, and she tried everything to drive them out. Well, almost everything she thought to herself, and a smile spread across her face. She picked up the phone and dialed 911.
She explained to the call handler that she’d seen a young black boy loitering around the neighborhood. She had no idea what he was doing, but he needed to be removed because there were a lot of elderly vulnerable people in the area, and she was concerned for their safety. When she put the phone down, she silently congratulated herself. That should do it, she thought. She remained hidden behind the curtain to watch the scene unfold.
Not too long after, a police car pulled into the neighborhood. The two cops inside the car were scanning around, looking for the young man in question. But the only person they could see that kind of matched the description they’d been given was a young boy busily trimming a hedge. They looked at each other, confused. The caller hadn’t given an approximate age, but with the way she’d spoken, the cops had been expecting someone in their late teens, acting suspiciously. This was just a kid, and he appeared to be hard at work. Nevertheless, they had a duty to investigate the call.
So they pulled up near the boy and got out of the car. Officer Colerin and his partner were both white, and as soon as Tristan saw them heading his way, his heart sank. Deep down, he already knew the evil neighbor had called the cops on him. Officer Colerin wasn’t about to step in and interrogate the young boy though. He just politely asked him what he was doing. Immediately warming to the officer’s kind nature, Tristan explained that he was doing yard work for some of his neighbors so he could earn some money to buy himself a PlayStation.
He told the officer that he didn’t want his parents paying out for something so expensive when he could earn the money himself and help out the neighbors. Officer Colerin and his partner glanced at each other, and they immediately knew that something about the call didn’t add up. This boy wasn’t doing anything wrong. However, Tristan’s mom had seen the police car cruising around and had gone out to see what was happening. When she saw the officers talking to her son, she went running over.
Officer Colerin calmly explained that there was nothing to worry about. He told her they had received a call about someone loitering in the neighborhood and knocking on doors, and Tristan matched the description they’d been given. He told her that when they’d spoken to the boy though, it was immediately clear he’d done nothing wrong. “You’ve got a polite, respectful, and truthful young man there,” he smiled at Tristan’s mother. Tristan’s mom broke down in tears and explained about all the trouble they’d had with the evil neighbor and that she was sure she was the one who had called the cops on her 9-year-old son.
Unfortunately, the caller had asked to remain anonymous, so there was no way of proving this. But Officer Colerin and his partner left the scene, assuring Tristan and his mom that there was nothing to worry about and that the young boy should keep up the artwork. A few hours later though, the cops would be back, and this time, the evil neighbor would regret calling the cops on the 9-year-old black boy.
The evil neighbor had been watching everything unfold at the bottom of the street. Being so far away, she hadn’t been able to hear anything that had been said, but she was just satisfied that the family that she hated so much had received a visit from the cops. But a few hours later, when the cops pulled back outside Tristan’s house, she couldn’t believe her luck. She hadn’t called them this time, but the fact that they’d come back surely had to prove that she’d been right. The family was trash and needed to leave.
She was so overjoyed that she decided to head out onto the street to get a better look at what was happening. This was all playing out perfectly, or so she thought. The cops knocked on Tristan’s door, and when his mom answered, her heart sank. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take. But it was Officer Colerin again, and he was smiling at her, and he asked if Tristan was in because he had a surprise for him.
The young boy came to the door, and Officer Colerin led him to the back of the patrol car. By now, the evil neighbor couldn’t even hide her excited grin, and more people had stepped out onto the street to see what was happening. Now they would all see what trash the family was, she thought to herself. Officer Colerin opened the trunk of the car and told Tristan to look inside. “It’s for you,” he said, smiling as the young boy covered his face with his hands in shock.
Tristan looked up at the cop, then threw his arms around him, giving him a huge hug. The smile immediately fell from the neighbor’s face. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Why was Tristan hugging the cop? When the young boy lifted the latest PlayStation out of the trunk and thanked Officer Colerin once again, the evil neighbor could see why they’d been hugging. The cop had bought Tristan the PlayStation.
Everyone turned to look at the evil neighbor. They all knew she’d been responsible for the initial police call, and they all knew how she treated the family ever since they’d moved in. Embarrassment washed over her as everyone stared at her, and her cheeks began to glow in shame. She immediately regretted calling the cops on the 9-year-old black boy. Her plan had severely backfired, and now everyone in the neighborhood knew exactly what she was like.
When Officer Colerin had returned to the station, he told all his colleagues about Tristan. Being a gamer himself, he admired that the young boy was willing to work to save up for something as expensive as a PlayStation. But after all the young boy had been through, the cop wanted to show the family that there were still some good people in the world. So he’d asked everyone in the state who wanted to, to chip in towards buying the young boy the latest console.
Everyone had been touched by the story and happily handed over some money. So Officer Colerin had even had enough to buy a gift card to pay for online memberships so Tristan could play straight away. When Officer Colerin handed over the PlayStation to the young boy, he promised him that they would play on the same team.
Soon after that, the evil neighbor was hardly ever seen, and a few months later, a for-sale sign appeared in her front yard. She tried her best to drive the family away and force them to move. But now, out of embarrassment, she was the one having to move. Even though Tristan now had his PlayStation, he continued to help out the elderly neighbors with their yard work, as he knew it meant a lot to them.
Officer Colerin had shown the young boy kindness when he needed it most, and now it was Tristan’s turn to spread that kindness to his neighbors.”
