Anthony Herron Protects Black Women Because No One Else Will

Anthony Herron (via Instagram)

Written by Kahlil Haywood

The COVID-19 quarantine era in New York City will be remembered forever. Never would anyone imagine in a million years that the “city that never sleeps” would be mandated to do exactly that. With the extra time in our homes, we all became more privy to the injustices happening in our city and in others. We learned of the inexplicable killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor for example. These events sent our city and others into an understandable and necessary uproar - even more so for those of us existing in Black skin.

In July we became aware of a resident of Valley Stream, Long Island. Her name is Jennifer McLeggan, she’s a Registered Nurse and is a mother to a 2-year-old daughter. For the past three years, she has endured harassment from her neighbors as the lone Black woman on her block. Media attention led to the arrest of two people - a white couple - as investigations into the matter continue. But, McLeggan has had to deal with disgusting acts such as human feces and dead squirrels being placed on her property. Initially, her attempts to get local authorities to intervene fell flat, citing that with no physical altercation, there wasn’t much that they could do. Jennifer wrote a huge note and placed it on her front door. It explained all that she had been through in the community and from there things began to take off.

That’s where Anthony Herron comes in, he also goes by the name F.L.O.W. He found it to be inexplicable that a Black woman had to deal with such inhumane and repulsive treatment. So, he took it upon himself to watch Jennifer’s home overnight and make sure she would no longer be harassed. He has been doing this now for the better part of 3 months and is motivated more now than ever to see to it that she receives justice.

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Kahlil Haywood is a writer, editor and content creator from Brooklyn, NY. Kahlil’s content chronicles the experiences of a millennial, Afro Latino men. His work discusses politics, dating and contemporary culture. The art, and the content is all created to elicit discussion and promote further understanding.