A White woman who made racist comments to a Black couple over an argument at a New York City dog park was fired from her job after video was shared online.
Frederick Joseph posted a video of part of the confrontation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
According to Joseph, the woman told him and his fiancée:
"You're not from around here. Go back to your hood. Stay in your hood. Stay in your hood."
This is when he decided to start recording.
The incident started when the woman tried to confront Joseph over his dog. According to him, she thought his dog was being aggressive.
Joseph tried to explain she must have been mistaken, when she told him to "stay in [his] hood."
He told CBS2 New York:
"At that point, I'm like, look, what you're doing is deeply, deeply offensive, deeply racist, and I want to get this on camera because I don't want there to be any misconceptions about what took place here."
"She was saying a lot of things, and that's when, like, finally, like, 'You guys need to take your dog out of here. You people shouldn't even be here'."
At the start of the video, the woman tries to knock the phone out of Joseph's hand. When this proves unsuccessful, she gives him a rude gesture.
A bystander in the video, Steve Tracy, is asked to verify what the woman said, which he agrees with Joseph.
Tracy also spoke with CBS2, saying:
"As those words were coming out and things started to unfold, it was pretty obvious to me, like, this is… this is not OK."
And the internet agreed it was not ok.
The video had some online wondering who this woman was.
On the internet, things rarely stay secret for long.
The woman was identified as Emma Sarley, and her LinkedIn page was discovered. With this information, Joseph tagged her employer and asked if they were okay with how she reacted.
They were not, and announced she had been let go. Derek Andersen, the CEO of the company, also offered to provide help with a resolution between the two parties.
This led to a debate online about whether or not Sarley deserved to be identified and fired.
Joseph responded to Sarley's firing too.
While he felt it was "unfortunate" she lost her job, he felt it was important for accountability.
"Having to bear the burden of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc...—I think that it's important for people to know that there are consequences for their actions. And I don't think it's up to victims to have to coddle people who are engaging in abuse."
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