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A Pennsylvania golf club is on cleanup duty after calling the cops on a group of Black women it claimed was playing too slowly. Myneca Ojo, one of the accused women, told the York Daily Record she felt she and her friends were discriminated against by Grandview Golf Club, adding that “it was a horrific experience.” The incident happened the day before Chikesia Clemons was stripped, threatened, and violently arrested at a Waffle House in Saraland, Ala.
According to The Associated Press, the group of women—who are members of a local group of experienced golfers called Sisters in the Fairway—were approached twice on their second hole by former York County Commissioner Steve Chronister, whose son, Jordan Chronister, co-owns the club.
“It’s part of golf etiquette that slow-moving players let groups behind them play through if they are holding things up, and often golf courses have personnel who monitor the pace of play, letting golfers know when they are taking too long,” The AP explains. But while the man claimed the women weren’t playing quickly enough, a Grandview golf pro said they were playing just fine.
That didn’t stop multiple white men from approaching the ladies before calling the cops (the women rightly argued that their break was appropriate). Northern York County Regional Police eventually arrived and interviewed the people on the scene, though no charges were made.
On Sunday, JJ Chronister—Jordan Chronister’s wife and co-owner of the golf club—said she called the women to personally issue an apology. “We sincerely apologize to the women for making them feel uncomfortable here at Grandview, that is not our intention in any way,” she told the York Daily Record. “We want all of our members to feel valued and that they can come out here and have a great time, play golf, and enjoy the experience.”
She then suggested a meeting to “discuss how that club can use what happened as a learning experience,” but Sandra Thompson, another one of the women, believes reparations will need to involve more than that. “There needs to be something more substantial to understand they don’t treat people in this manner,” she said.
The incident comes almost two weeks after two Black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting on an associate for a business meeting.
