A Massachusetts farm called the police on a Black family it thought stole 6 apples

• A Massachusetts farm called the police on a Black family and accused them of stealing six apples.
• The parents explained in a blog post that they planned on paying for the additional apples their young children grabbed.
• The farm issued a public apology on Thursday and said it would implement DEI training for its employees.

A Massachusetts apple-picking farm phoned the police over a Black family that the farm accused of stealing six apples.

The parents, Reverend Manika Bowman and Jeff Myers, shared a blog post about their Labor Day experience at Connors Farm in Danvers, Massachusetts. The couple said they spent over $100 on "admission, fruit picking," and more during their apple-picking excursion.

Myers and Bowman noted that they had six extra apples that did not fit into their prepaid apple-picking bag that their children had added without their knowledge. They said they moved the six apples out of the prepaid bag and into their child's stroller - the couple planned to bring the apples to the farm store and pay a surcharge for the extra apples.

Instead, the farm called the police. The couple said security guards approached their family and searched their bags for any concealed fruit - to no avail. Myers and Bowman said that police accused them of "playing the race card" when explaining what went down.

"Our family did not get the apple cider donuts we'd been looking forward to all day at Connors Farm in Danvers this Labor Day," Bowman and Myers wrote. "What we did get at Connors Farm was a traumatic experience of being falsely accused of stealing apples."

Bowman and Myers issued three requests for the farm:

• A written apology from the owners
• That the ~$100 spent by the couple at the farm is donated to a charity
• A promise from the farm owners and the Danvers Police Department to institute diversity training for its employees

Connor's Farm issued a public apology on Thursday and agreed to require diversity training for its employees, but did not agree to donate any of its earnings to charity.

"We regret the incident that happened this past weekend. We have extended our personal apology to the family," the farm wrote in a Facebook post. "We do our best to train our employees to handle all customer issues with courtesy and respect at all times. We are taking further steps to ensure that staff will undergo diversity, equity and inclusion training. Please know that everybody is welcome on our farm."