An employee has been placed on disciplinary leave after she was accused of racially profiling a college student by denying her and her friends entrance to the housing facility’s swimming pool.
The young resident filmed the incident and shared it on Twitter, where it quickly went viral.
The student and her friends were standing a few feet away from the door to the on-site swimming facility at the Knox Ridge housing complex. The video shows her trying to explain to the employee, identified as Cheryl Eastman, that she lives at the complex.
Other residents can be seen entering the swimming facility while Eastman says that she never saw the student before so she doesn’t’ believe that she stays in the complex.
“I live here,” the student tells the employee, who is holding the entrance door open. “I’m sub-leasing,” the young resident adds and gives her address.
“We can’t have any guests,” Eastman responds. “But I live here,” the young student replies, to which Eastman says: “Residents can’t have guests.”
The student asks the employee: “How are you going to automatically assume that I don’t live here?”
Eastman replies: “Because I know her. I know everybody that lives here.”
The young resident responds: “You don’t know everybody that lives here because I live here. Just because you don’t know me doesn’t mean I don’t live here…That’s very rude of you to just assume that I don’t live here.”
She then asks: “Is there a reason you just assume that I don’t live here? (You assume) a black woman doesn’t live here but you can let this white woman in and assume she lives here.”
“It’s not about that,” Eastman replies, to which the young student says: “It is about that…Clearly [it is], because you see three young women of color walk up to go to the pool and you stop us before we even get to the door.”
The young student adds: “I’ve been living here since March, paying rent since March. How are you going to tell me (that I don’t live here)? You stopped me before I could even get to the door to speak to anyone.”
A day after the video was shared online, Knox Ridge announced that the employee was placed on disciplinary leave.
Some people who claimed to know the employee said that they didn’t believe the woman was racist.
“I lived at Knox ridge for 2 years 2016-2018. Cheryl always treated me with the upmost respect and I’ve never seen her disrespect or profile anybody of color. I’m sorry for your bad experience with her but I really think she just didn’t know you,” Marcus Cordier wrote.
“Agreed. Personally know this person. Far from racist. More like the person you’re going to see volunteering to to make the world a better place. Sad to see an ally get eviscerated on twitter over a possible misunderstanding,” another added.
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Replaced!