A White woman from St. Louis, Missouri has been fired after video of her blocking a Black man from entering their building went viral, Newsweek reports.
D’Arreion Toles uploaded footage of his neighbor refusing to let him enter his luxury apartment building last week. After going back and forth, Toles eventually moves past the woman, who then follows him into the elevator and up to his floor. After seeing Toles take out his keys, the woman suggests she only wanted to “introduce [herself] as a neighbor.”
“To be a black man in America & come home,” read Toles’ caption on Facebook. “Never really thought this would happen to me, but it did!”
The video has been watched over 2 million times, with viewers identifying the woman as an employee of Tribeca Luxury Apartments, a property management company. In an official statement posted to their website, Tribeca called the video “disturbing,” resulting in the unnamed woman being let go.
“The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds,” the statement said. “We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company.”
Toles told KMOV that he was surprised the incident took place in his own apartment complex, but feels no resentment towards the woman.
“I am not mad at her. I am not upset with her. I am not going to go after her legally or anything like that. I wish her the best.”
