If there's one thing that social media has taught us lately, it's that racial profiling is still a sadly common phenomenon in the United States. If you don't believe me, then just think about the alarming number of minorities in the US whom white people have called the cops on them for no reason. There was the time when a pharmacy manager called the police on a black woman who tried to use a coupon or the woman who harassed a black teen selling candy, and the woman caught on video assaulting a black teenager at a pool.
Sometimes, these incidents are caught on camera, with the culprits shamed for their actions on social media. Now, another example is doing the rounds on Facebook, which shows an apparently-racist woman admonishing an African-American man for opening the door to his own apartment building.
D'Arreion Toles, who hails from St Louis, Missouri, was coming home from work when his neighbour, Hilary Brooke Thornton, confronted him at the door to his building and began interrogating him about who he was and what he was doing there. Thornton refused to let Toles inside unless he told her where he lived. Outraged, Toles uploaded footage of the confrontation to Facebook.
In the short clip, Toles can be seen stating: "You're blocking me into my building, it's my building as well, so can you just get out of my way. I live here and you're blocking my way. I've already buzzed in."
Toles captioned the footage: "Be a black man in America & Come home, women [sic] tries to stop me from coming into my building because she feels insecure, Downtown St. Louis luxury loft, because she don't feel that I belong, never really thought this would happen to me, but it did!"
Viewers were shocked by Thornton's actions. One commenter wrote: "This is so offensive... like, this woman completely deserves to be shamed for this ridiculous behaviour. I'm sorry she harassed you for like ten minutes. These people are sick- this is like what happened to Trayvon Martin... being a black man is not a crime. Let people live their life- damn."
Another person added: "I get so angry watching this. Not all white people think the way this shallow minded woman thinks - I promise you. I hope she watches herself and sees how ridiculous and ignorant she looks. It’s sad, really."
As a result of the video, Thornton has since been fired from her job as a realtor, and her company released a statement on their website which says: "Tribeca-STL was recently shared [in] a video containing a disturbing interaction that we believe is important to clarify ... We never stand for racism or racial profiling at our company. After a review of the matter, the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our company."
Toles has since stated that he will not pursue legal action against Thornton.