‘The View’s Sunny Hostin Says She Warned Local Police That Her Son Would Be Training For The Junior Olympics In An “All-White Neighborhood”: “Black Boys Are Not Given The Presumption Of Innocence”

The new Netflix documentary, The Perfect Neighbor, was a Hot Topic on this morning’s episode of The View.

The film investigates the consequences of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws in the aftermath of the murder of Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother who was shot and killed by her neighbor, a white woman named Susan Lorincz, who had spent years harassing and calling the cops on the neighborhood children. At the time of the tragedy, Owens had gone to Lorincz’s door to retrieve her son’s tablet, which he claimed Lorincz had stolen, only for Lorincz to fatally shoot her through a metal door.

On this morning’s episode of The View, Sunny Hostin shared her perspective as a Black mother herself.

“What I found really heart-wrenching is that there was a Black mother whose kids were constantly targeted by a white woman. This was a racial bias crime,” she said, noting that while the kids Lorincz’s targeted were of all races, she had a “particular problem with these Black kids.”

“As a mother of Black children, I know that Black boys are not given the presumption of innocence and the presumption of youth,” she continued. “She’s calling the police and saying they’re trying to steal her car and they’re 11 years old. They don’t know how to drive.”

According to Hostin, she has had to warn local law enforcement of her own son’s presence in a white neighborhood to avoid any similar tragedies.

“I have had to be in the position where I have gone to my local police department, because I know my son is going to be training for the Junior Olympics running around the neighborhood in an all-white neighborhood,” she explained. “I have brought him to the police and said, ‘He belongs to me. This is my son. Do not harass him. Do not stop him.’”

“[Owens] was doing what so many Black mothers do, and she was killed for protecting her child,” Hostin added.

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.