Vicktor Stevenson was trying to revel in the recent grand opening of his lemonade shop, Gourmonade, in San Francisco’s Mission District, when racism reared its ugly head. 

Before the opening, Stevenson found the words “monkey juice” spray-painted on his storefront.

As if that wasn't bad enough, just before 7 a.m. on July 17, Stevenson was confronted by two police cars as he stood in front of his store on the phone with his security company, CNN reports. 

“I’m standing here at my store, trying to make sure my security system is up and running properly, and next thing I know, four cops hop out of cars on me,” Stevenson told AJ+.

This is what it's like for a black business owner in a gentrifying SF neighborhood: Racist graffiti and calls to the police for unlocking your own store. pic.twitter.com/F9lVsIaKM7— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 20, 2018

Stevenson initially thought he'd accidentally set off a security alarm, but the police were there for a much more frustrating reason. 

“And come to find out, somebody in the neighborhood called and said that I was breaking into my own business,” he said.

“I didn’t see the other two officers behind me, but the one in front of me had his hand on his gun,” he recalled.

Stevenson assured the officers he was the store's proprietor. To prove Stevenson was, in fact, who he said he was, the officers asked him for ID. According to Stevenson, three of the officers were white, and the remaining one was "black or maybe mixed."

"I was reluctant to give them my ID. I didn't want to give them my ID, and I just obliged after a while because I've seen what's been going on every single day out here, and I didn't want to become a statistic. So I just gave them my ID, and they ran it," Stevenson recalled.

Stevenson posted a video of the encounter on his business's Instagram page:

What's up every body! I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone for all of the calls , texts, dm's and show of support and love on social media. I'm going about my day working at the barbershop and staying focused. What Happened today isn't nothing new to me and I just hope people can see and understand that Racism is real and alive. You can't make this stuff up. I just thank God that I'm able to go home to my wife and son in one piece as we all have seen how these things play out every.single.day. I'm going to continue to make my product with love and hopefully that will put a smile on someone's face and put love in their heart also. Making the world a better place one Gourmonade at a time. Shazaam!
A post shared by Gourmonade (@gourmonade) on Jul 17, 2018 at 3:27pm PDT

Visibly shaken and tearing up, Stevenson also recalled his 9-month-old son clung to him all night, sensing something was wrong. 

“People die because of this kinda misuse of police resources and racial profiling every day,” he noted.

As for the call to the authorities, Stevenson says he may not know who felt the need to call 911 on him, but he's pretty sure he knows why.

"I could be wrong, but I'm almost 1000 percent sure this was racially inspired," he said.

Please repost and share with everyone everywhere!!!Being black at my business minding my business and someone called the police and said I was breaking in. People die because of this kinda misuse of police resources and racial profiling everyday. I'm just blessed to be alive to tell my story and hopefully can help spark some major changes in how these situations are handled. It's a criminal act and should be treated as such.
A post shared by Gourmonade (@gourmonade) on Jul 19, 2018 at 11:02am PDT

“I’m just blessed to be alive to tell my story and hopefully can help spark some major changes in how these situations are handled,” said Stevenson.

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