This summer white people have been calling the police on black people for no good reason, then getting shamed on social media. But on the upside, they've all gotten cute nicknames! 'BBQ Becky' called the cops on a black family having a BBQ. 'Permit Patty' called the cops on an 8-year-old black girl selling water on the sidewalk. 'Lawnmower Lucy' called the cops on a 12-year-old black boy because he was mowing their lawn. The list keeps growing and growing.
Now there's a new person to add to the Wall of Shame: 'ID Adam.' Jasmine Edwards, a black woman, lives in the upscale Winston-Salem neighborhood. On the Fourth of July, she took her daughter to the community pool, which is exclusively for residents. Adam Bloom, the pool chair and a board member of the the Glenridge Homeowners Association, was also at the pool. He asked Jasmine for her identification to prove she was a resident.
Jasmine recorded the encounter and posted it on Facebook, where it has over 160,000 views. When the four minute video begins, two police officers are already at the scene. Jasmine tells Adam she has her keycard with her, but not her ID. Then she questions why he approached her, out of all the people there. "I feel this is racial profiling. I’m the only black person here with my son in the pool," says Jasmine. "And he walked only to me to ask for my ID."
Adam defends himself, claiming, "I ask residents pretty much a couple times a week." Jasmine repeats she is a resident and says she already supplied him with her address. "What can I charge against him for racial profiling?" she asks the officers. One of the cops replies that would be a civil lawsuit. Then, noting that there's nothing in the rules about proving your residency, the officer says if Jasmine "has a card to get in the pool I believe that that should be enough."
The officer swipes Jasmine's card on the monitoring system to confirm its validity, and the gate opens. However, Adam remains skeptical, commenting, "They kinda make their way around sometimes. But that’s good enough for me today." Jasmine confronts him again and asks if he would like to apologize. Adam does not respond.
In the caption to the Facebook video, Jasmine writes, "This is a classic case of racial profiling in my half a million $$ neighborhood pool. This happened to me and my baby today. What a shame!!" On Twitter, many people agreed with Jasmine, and expressed their outrage. Once the Winston-Salem Journal identified the man as Adam Bloom, they dubbed him "ID Adam."
Like BBQ Becky and Permit Patty, Adam faced some serious repercussions for his outburst. WXII obtained a letter from the Glenridge Homeowners Association that stated Adam resigned as a board member and as pool chair.
"We sincerely regret that an incident occurred yesterday at our community pool that left neighbors feeling racially profiled. In confronting and calling the police on one of our neighbors, the pool chair escalated a situation in a way that does not reflect the inclusive values Glenridge seeks to uphold as a community."
Some Twitter detectives discovered Adam works as a 'Value Realization Leader' at Sonoco Products. So, they informed the company about his alter-ego, "ID Adam." The company posted a tweet saying Adam "is no longer employed by the company in any respect." Their statement concluded, "We extend our sincerest apologies to all who have been hurt by this incident, especially Ms. Edwards and her family."
Well, if you're going have a racist outburst in public, be warned: Everyone has a camera on their phone.