Several members — including two Black families — have resigned their memberships to the Maplewood Country Club over the MCC Board’s handling of an incident last August in which a member allegedly told the Latina caregiver of another member’s child to “Go back to your country.”
The accused member has denied the allegation, and the club contends that it “is committed to an inclusive, respectful environment for all members, their families, and guests.”
The resignations were confirmed by two families who contacted Village Green, as well as MCC manager Michael Lusk, who told Village Green that four member families had cited the incident in recent resignations.
One of the Black families, which has resided in SOMA for nearly 10 years, reached out to Village Green late last year about the incident which involved their 9-year-old child and their child’s caregiver.
“We are terminating our membership with the Maplewood Country Club as a result of a racist incident involving our 9-year old daughter, her caretaker and two club members,” wrote the mother. “In short, one of these members told our caretaker to go back to her country twice. A police report was filed and we were able to obtain video of the incident because it was on club grounds. We went through an entire grievance process where we feel we were treated very poorly. Maplewood Country Club continues to act in a manner that demonstrates their longstanding history of inequality.”
The mother also said she was disappointed when the sole Black member of the board called her in December, after families had resigned citing this incident, and asked her to “tone it down.” She said that that the board member told her that the MCC board wanted to reach out but he elected to do so on their behalf to “check in on us.”
The family shared the police report with Village Green, but has asked that their names be withheld due to concerns about safety and privacy. Village Green also confirmed the existence of the report through an Open Public Records request to the Township.
Another Black family, also asking that their names be withheld, emailed Village Green to report, “As a direct result of MCC’s inaction and acceptance of the inexcusable behavior by the offending club member, we resigned our membership in solidarity with [redacted] and her family.”
The second family shared their email to MCC terminating their membership, which read in part, “We are of the strong opinion that the verbal abuse and subsequent injustice suffered by the [redacted] family is completely unjustified. Further, we are deeply disappointed by the inaction from the Board on this matter, and believe that our values and interests no longer align with those of MCC.”
The Incident
The family of the 9-year-old child shared 22 pages of documentation with Village Green, including reports of the incident, the MCC’s investigative report, and correspondence with the MCC Board, dating back to August 2025.
The family’s first email to the MCC Board reads, “On Wednesday, August 7, 2025, at approximately 5:30 p.m., our daughter [name withheld] and her caretaker, Ms. [name withheld] were leaving MCC upon [our daughter] completing a private golf lesson. As [the caregiver] directly relayed to us, two men were walking toward a car and crossing in front of her as she was driving out of the MC’s parking lot. She slowed the car to allow them to pass. [One of the men] signaled for her to drive on instead. As she drove past them, [the man who signaled] struck our car with his hand forcibly and loudly. [The caregiver] and my daughter were startled, frightened and concerned. They believed one of the men had been hit and [the caregiver] immediately got out of the car to check on them. The unidentified second man was laughing. Confused, [the caregiver] asked, ‘What is wrong with you?’ [The man who hit the car]’s reply was, ‘Go back to your country.’ He made this statement twice as they walked to their car. Upset an scared, [the caregiver] followed them and took a photo of his license plate. When [the man who hit the car] observed her doing this, he threatened [the caregiver] with taking a picture of our license plate, calling the police and falsely reporting that [the caregiver] purposely hit him with our car.”
Per the grievance report, the men both deny that one told the caregiver to go back to her country. Instead the man who is accused of making the comments reported that he said, “Go back to your car.” He also stated that he did not signal for the caregiver to proceed and that he was concerned with her not stopping since MMS students walk in the area. He did, however, admit to striking the car.
The club asked that the accused member send a letter to the family, apologizing for hitting the car with his hand. The letter reads in full: “With regard to the incident that took place in he club parking lot last August, I understand that [the caregiver] has acknowledged the Committee’s finding that she erred in driving in the manner that she did near [redacted] and myself. In the interest of moving forward, I also apologize for the action of knocking on her bumper as she drove by. For context, the crosswalk is heavily used by our middle schoolers, including my own [child], as they get to and from school. My intent was simply to remind the driver that such driving is unsafe and illegal. However, I need to be clear that the accusation that I told [the caregiver] to ‘go back to her country’ is completely false. Whether this was a misunderstanding during our very brief interaction or another example of misrepresenting what occurred, I cannot say. What I can say is that attributing such a statement to me, and the attempt to portray this as anything other than an isolated disagreement between two individuals, is both deeply hurtful and wholly untrue.”
The family told Village Green that they found this statement to be a “non-apology” and that it is incorrect in that their caregiver does not acknowledge an error in her driving, but continues to assert that the man had signaled for her to continue.
Village Green has reviewed the video but is not posting it here for legal and privacy reasons. In the video, the car can be seen proceeding to the exit then slowing as the men come into view, then stopping when the men pass behind it. The caregiver then exits the car, briefly interacts with the men and returns to her car, then goes back toward the men and photographs their license plate. There is no audio. The man who hits the car is obscured in the video just before the car passes. Through the club, Village Green attempted to contact the member who hit the car with his hand and allegedly made the comments; the club declined to answer whether or not they had made the member aware of the request. Village Green has not spoken to the accused member, but does have his defense in documents provided by the family and his statement above.
According to the Board’s grievance report, the Board wrote that it found “all three of the witnesses to the incident to be credible. There was nothing in the video or testimony to lead one to believe one side over the other. From our review of the video, it appears that [the caregiver] and [the member] were standing somewhat far apart, and there is a good chance that what [the caregiver] heard was not what [the member] said.”
The family objects to this characterization, saying that the both the caregiver and their child heard what the member said, not once, but twice, and were adamant that they correctly heard him, which is why they were “shaken.” The mother said, “You can’t say she’s credible and then dismiss her account in the same paragraph.”
The Board also concluded, “Our review of the video does not show either [man] making any gesture to suggest that [the caregiver] should drive through. It was an error for [the caregiver] not to stop the car to allow [the men] to walk.”
Village Green reached out to the MCC for response to the families’ accusations and resignations and received this statement:
Maplewood Country Club (MCC) is committed to an inclusive, respectful environment for all members, their families, and guests. MCC is proud of its diverse membership and encourages persons of all races, genders, national origins, religions, and sexual orientations to become members. MCC will not tolerate any inappropriate conduct by any member that is based on these personal characteristics.
An unfortunate incident occurred between a member and the child caregiver of a member family at the club last summer in the club’s parking lot. The child caregiver alleged that the member made a bias statement related to her national origin when the two of them were involved in a dispute over a motor vehicle incident and the member denied making the comment. A grievance was filed and the matter was referred to the Membership Relationship Committee (“the Committee”) for investigation, as required by the MCC By-Laws. MCC took the matter seriously and heard testimony from several witnesses and viewed the incident on a video obtained from a security camera. The video had no audio, so the Committee was unable to hear what each party said. The Committee found both parties were credible but without corroboration from an independent source, MCC could not confirm whose testimony was truthful. Based on the video, the Committee concluded that the vehicle did not stop to allow the pedestrian to pass but it was wrong of the member to slap the car with his hand and required him to write a letter of apology.
A MCC Board member, who was not involved with the investigation, decided on his own to reach out to the aggrieved family to try and begin a dialogue to help resolve the situation but his efforts were rejected. Again, this was an unfortunate incident and MCC was disappointed to learn that the aggrieved family resigned their membership.
Village Green followed up asking if the club leadership had vetted the member’s apology letter before it was sent. MCC Manager Michael Lusk reported that, yes, the letter had been vetted by the Board.
Village Green asked if language stating that MCC is “committed to an inclusive, respectful environment for all members, their families, and guests” was codified in the MCC’s bylaws or other documents shared with members. Lusk replied the statement stood for itself and noted that the MCC is a private entity.
