I am a Delaware native and the daughter of a Delaware State College graduate from the 1960s. My family’s roots in Sussex County stretch back generations, including through periods when Black Delawareans understood all too clearly which beaches and public spaces welcomed us and which did not.

That history came to mind recently as I watched coverage of the so-called takeover event in Rehoboth Beach involving Delaware State University students.

Let me be clear: public safety matters. Large, disorderly gatherings should concern local officials, business owners, families and residents alike. If laws were broken, there should be accountability. But accountability and humanity must coexist.

What concerns me is not simply the police response itself, but the rapidly escalating rhetoric and public reaction surrounding this incident. Terms such as riot, takeover and chaos have dominated headlines and social media before the public has seen much evidence of widespread violence, destruction or organized criminal activity.

At the same time, I have watched deeply disturbing racist commentary flood online discussions about this event. Some comments have gone far beyond concern about behavior and entered the territory of open hostility toward Black youth themselves.

That should concern all of us.

As someone whose family once navigated Delaware’s segregated beach culture, I cannot hear words about restoring order without remembering there was a time when many Black Delawareans were not welcome at beaches like Rehoboth except as workers serving white visitors. Families like mine often gathered instead in Lewes or other spaces where we understood we could exist with less humiliation.

My brother was born in the basement of Beebe Hospital during a very different era in Sussex County history. My family is not separate from Delaware’s story. We are part of it.

The young people now being discussed in headlines and comment sections are not strangers invading this state. Many are Delawareans themselves, or connected to institutions and families woven into the fabric of this community.

That does not mean today’s situation is the same as Jim Crow segregation. It is not. But historical memory shapes how many people experience moments like this, especially when fear escalates quickly around gatherings of young Black people.

I do not pretend to know every fact of this case. Investigations should continue, evidence should be presented and due process should be respected. But Delaware should be careful not to allow inflammatory rhetoric and racial hostility to define the public conversation more than the actual facts themselves.