So far, 2018 has proven to be the year of racist incidents that occurred out in public places. Over the past few months, we've heard of people having the cops called on them for crimes such as "selling water when you're eight years old", or "barbecuing in a public place".
We've also heard of horrifying incidents when people have been assaulted for little more than attempting to pay with coins, or when lawyers have gone off on people for speaking Spanish. Oh, the humanity.
Before the year 2018, you may have been tempted to dismiss stories like the above with derision or about it not really happening everywhere, but the advent of social media has brought these incidents into sharp focus. That being said, it only takes one false accusation to ruin the credibility of these kind of stories.
This brings us quite nicely to the story of Khalil Cavil, a server at the Texas restaurant Saltgrass Steak House who made the news last week after he posted a picture on Facebook of a receipt he reportedly received from a customer, which came with a horrifying note: "We don't tip terrorist".
The receipt, unsurprisingly, went viral. People were furious with the customer in question, and before long, it had emerged that the customer was no longer allowed to eat at Saltgrass Steak House. And that seemed to be that. The viral outrage died down, and we soon moved onto the next racist incident.
But then we got a statement from Terry Turney, COO of Saltgrass, who talked to USA Today about the racist incident we had already forgotten about.
"After further investigation, we have learned that our employee fabricated the entire story. The customer has been contacted and invited back to our restaurant to dine on us. Racism of any form is intolerable, and we will always act swiftly should it occur in any of our establishments. Falsely accusing someone of racism is equally disturbing."
That's right - it seems that Khalil Cavil, who's 20 years old, fabricated the entire racist incident, and as a result no longer works at the Saltgrass Steak House. Speaking to the Odessa American, Cavil revealed that following the incident, people had donated money to the server to make up for his lost tip.
“I did write it. I don’t have an explanation. I made a mistake. There is no excuse for what I did,” said Cavil, while also noting that the money he received from the viral post will now be returned. He did maintain, however that the incident was "about this hatred that is still going on, that is still here and prevalent. I just wanted people to understand that.”
Cavil then ended the interview with the Odessa American by saying: “I’m sorry. I deeply made a huge, big mistake. And I’m in the process of getting the help that I need.” While this is but one fabrication a slew of incidents caught in camera, it's disappointing to see someone take advantage of the suffering going on in public places all around America.
Let's hope that the overall credibility of people of colour in this situation is not damaged by Cavil's acts.
