Church posts ‘no trespassing’ sign after Black woman sits under tree in CA, video shows

Protests took place on Wednesday night in California after a Black woman filmed church volunteers putting up a “No trespassing” sign after she sat outside doing work.

Alex Marshall-Brown, an actress and stuntwoman, posted a video on Facebook on Tuesday of two church volunteers putting a sign up after she sat in the grass outside St. Paul First Lutheran Church in Hollywood, The New York Post reported.

In the video, one of the volunteers tells Marshall-Brown that they called the police but were told nothing could be done because a “No trespassing” sign wasn’t put up. He confirmed that the sign was put up just because she’s sitting outside.

Marshall-Brown said in the video: “I’m clearly not bothering anyone, I’m clearly sitting here doing work, so this is in excess of anything that needs to happen.”

One of the volunteers said there was vandalism in the past and that “We have to treat everybody the same. All lives matter.”

“I said nothing about any lives, sir,” Marshall-Brown replies.

McClatchy News has reached out to Marshall-Brown about the incident.

The church has apologized for the incident.

“It is the position of St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church and School that Marshall-Brown posed no risk or threat to the property and that this incident was not handled in a way representative of the church or the school,” the church wrote on Facebook. “The volunteers from the church who were involved in the exchange have voluntarily requested to step down from their positions.”

A protest took place after the video went viral and Marshall-Brown said she met with church leaders, according to KCBS. The church told her that racial bias and sensitivity training would be introduced, the station reported.

“They were very contrite and willing to engage in a dialogue and acknowledge the fault of the incident, and they pointed out I was not deserving of that behavior,” Marshall-Brown told the station.

Attention has turned to publicized incidents in which police have been called on people of color ever since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody.

In another example, a white couple accused James Juanillo, a person of color, of vandalizing private property after he wrote “Black Lives Matter” outside his home in Pacific Heights, California, McClatchy News reported. The woman in the video said she knew who lived in the home, despite it belonging to Juanillo.