LEVEL Best Man 2020
The Unsung Hero Who Protected a Complete Stranger From Her Racist Neighbor For 90 Days
Queens rapper turned community watchman Anthony Herron Jr. epitomized the phrase ‘Protect Black women’
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
Jennifer McLeggan felt she was all out of options. The 39-year-old single mother and registered nurse had been racially harassed by her neighbor for the three years since she first moved into her Long Island house just outside of Queens, New York. And while the means of intimidation grew more menacing — she says her neighbor brandished a blowtorch and pellet gun, as well as throwing dead squirrels and human feces onto her property — the local police reportedly refused to intervene since no physical assault had occurred. Nevermind the fact that her neighbor allegedly said McLeggan, a Black woman, should go back where she came from and that she could be “erased.”
Scared for her life and the safety of her two-year-old daughter, McLeggan posted a large note on her front door in July, a rundown of the harassment she’d experienced and a cry for help from the community. The internet did its thing: An image of her note…
