Racist rumors in El Dorado Hills show how white fear continues to endanger black lives

If anyone needed a reminder of how far this nation has to go in addressing racism, some residents of El Dorado Hills have just provided a stunning example.

On June 1, a group of 20 aspiring young entrepreneurs, most of them African American, toured the suburban El Dorado County community as part of an exercise to help the program’s participants envision their future success. Malachi Turner, 22, runs the program as part of a group called the Kai Collective. It teaches young would-be entrepreneurs how to “dream build” so they can eventually work for themselves.

“It starts with believing and conceiving,” Turner told The Sacramento Bee. “Your mind has a lot to do with that.”

As part of the dream building exercise, Turner took his class to neighborhoods in El Dorado Hills, Folsom and Granite Bay where they could see expensive homes. But as the group walked the streets, five residents called the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. One person called the police in Folsom.

“Fear and concern spread in El Dorado Hills as rumors circulated that protesters were heading toward the suburbs as demonstrators protested the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody,” reported The Bee’s Sawsan Morrar. “One of the rumors stemmed from a photo which went viral throughout El Dorado Hills and Folsom, claiming that carloads of rioters were on their way into neighborhoods.”

In reality, the group’s tour had nothing to do with any protest. But that didn’t stop some residents from spreading panicked rumors and appearing to call for violence against a group of young Black people.

“This is not a joke,” read the Facebook post that went viral. “They are currently in my nieces neighborhood. Where are all my Second Amendment Peeps at?? May need to call on you today.”

Second Amendment? A group of young entrepreneurs tours a local neighborhood and is met with threats of gun violence? Sadly, this is not surprising. The future entrepreneurs were not engaged in protest, but most of them were Black. The treatment they received underscores why thousands of Americans are now in the streets to decry systemic racism by police.

In Folsom, police responded to one citizen call, spoke to Turner’s group and let them go on their way. The El Dorado Sheriff’s Office apparently did not respond to the five calls it received, but it’s also not clear whether the Facebook rumors spurred the county’s decision to deploy National Guard troops there.

Not every resident responded with racism. Some chatted with the group from their balconies and shared details about their homes and occupations. In Folsom, a police officer took a picture with the group.

But the Facebook rumors spread for days, generating white fear in an unincorporated community of 42,000 that is only 1.6 percent African American. Buzz Patterson, a Republican running to unseat Democratic Rep. Ami Bera in the 7th District, jumped on the rumors, warning at least one El Dorado Hills resident to stay indoors – and proving why he is unfit for any leadership role.

“You’re telling me you were prepared and ready to shoot people, a group of individuals just because they’re black?” Turner said in a video after finding out about the Facebook rumors. “That racial profiling is going to get people killed.”

In February, three white men allegedly chased and killed an African American man named Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged through a neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia.

“The gravity of what could have gone wrong weighed heavily on Turner, in light of recent incidents where neighbors have racially profiled, and sometimes killed, black people for being in their neighborhood,” wrote The Bee’s Morrar.

The people of El Dorado Hills should be ashamed of the residents who allowed their fear and racism to endanger the lives of this group of young people. The El Dorado Hills community owes these young entrepreneurs an official apology, and that’s not all. El Dorado Hills must address the systemic racism roosting in its quiet suburban streets and engage in public conversations to make it clear that racists are not welcome there.

Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to clarify that El Dordado Hills is unincorporated.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 11:59 AM.