‘We Don’t Want You Here!’: White Michigan Man Gets Internet-Famous for Flinging Racist Remarks at Black Neighbor Because He Didn’t Like His Lawn
A Black Michigan man is winning the turf war against his racist neighbor. On April 20, PJ Weaver was working in his yard in Midland when his white neighbor confronted him with several demeaning, ignorant remarks about race — all sparked by lawn care.
Weaver recorded the interaction and posted it on Facebook, where it has since gone viral, making 82-year-old retiree, Donald Deibert, internet-famous for all the wrong reasons.
Weaver wrote on Facebook, “This man walked over to me as I was doing some landscaping and said, ‘You know how us white people feel about you Black people when your lawn is not cut.’ Wtf does skin color have to do with any of this?” he asked.
Weaver later told local station WNEM TV5 after his Facebook post blew up, “Just because I grew up Black, that I don’t care about the lawn and stuff like that, that doesn’t make any sense.”
He added that he stopped his yard work immediately and kept his eye on Deibert, “because at this point, I don’t know what to trust. I don’t know this gentleman, so I’m thinking the worst at this point. And I’m like, I don’t want to have my back turned to this house.”
The video showed just how the petty insults unfolded. As Weaver was gardening and pulling weeds on his property, the man told him his yard — which appeared green and lush after heavy rains — “builds up prejudice that already existed.”
Weaver pushed back, saying, “I don’t think that has anything to do with Black or white.”
“Let me explain it to you,” the man responded, “when you look at the way the cities have gone downhill, what part of the cities are really going downhill? It’s the Black population largely. And you may not see it that way, that’s how a lot of Caucasians, white people see it.”
He continued, “When somebody moves in, and they’re a minority, which is great, like I said, I think it’s a great idea, and then they don’t maintain it, that just reinforces that stereotype.”
According to the Midland Daily News, Weaver’s phone died before the interaction ended, and he could not capture the last insult Deibert flung his way: “We don’t want you here.”
But Weaver stood his ground and has no intention of backing down. Since going public with the video, he said the community has rallied around him, and he’s even received an offer of free lawn care services.
“No one runs me away from anything,” he told the station. “I’ve never been the type to run away off a situation. I always find ways to make it a positive.”