Video shows angry Black driver calling cyclist racist after she accuses him of stealing his own car
A Black driver has labeled a woman “racist” after she accused him of robbing his own car. The man was left furious when the cyclist denied being racist and defended her actions by saying she confronted him because there is "lots of car crime" on Bristol's road.
The whole incident was recorded that showed the man and the elderly woman arguing on the road. The identities of the two are not known but the man uploaded the confrontation video on Twitter, where he goes by the username A1k. The clip started with the man saying, “This White lady thinks I am robbing my own car because I am Black.” The cyclist then asked the driver, "what is your reg number" and also stated that it looked like he was "rifling through someone's glovebox".
This morning I was in my car cleaning the passenger seat and this white lady came up to me accusing me of being a thief. I’ve lived in this area in Bristol for the past 10 years. I’ve been parking my car here for years now and I’ve never seen anything like this before. pic.twitter.com/dwmGEJC7C3
— A1k (@Akheyre76) August 22, 2020
The man was talking behind the camera who was then heard saying: “That's my flipping car". He also told the woman to “call the police, call the police". The man then branded the woman “racist” to which she replied: “everything comes down to race now, doesn't it?" Shortly after that, he gave his registration number to the cyclist to which she said, “brilliant." However, by then, the man had totally lost his cool and asked the woman to "get out of here, racist. F*** off, f*** off.”
The man shared the video on Twitter and wrote: “This morning I was in my car cleaning the passenger seat and this White lady came up to me accusing me of being a thief. I’ve lived in this area in Bristol for the past 10 years. I’ve been parking my car here for years now and I’ve never seen anything like this before.” The one-minute-long video has gone viral since then, which has been viewed more than two million times.
The driver uploaded a second video also on the social media platform, which is of 45 seconds that showed the woman coming back to him and saying she wants to apologize. In the caption, the man wrote: “I’ve lived and parked in this area for years now and I’ve never heard or seen cars getting broken into or stolen she plenty racially profiled me. And she came back saying 'let’s be mates' wow I’m lost for words fr”.
I’ve lived and parked in this area for years now and I’ve never heard or seen cars getting broken into or stolen she plenty racially profiled me.
— A1k (@Akheyre76) August 22, 2020
And she came back saying “let’s be mates” wow I’m lost for words fr 🤬🤬🤬 fuck Bristol man. pic.twitter.com/aIFNwof2XR
As the woman tried to say sorry in the second video, the man replied: “No, I don't want you to apologize. You assumed I am robbing my own car because of my color. I don't want to talk to you. Get out of here, I don't want to talk to you." The woman then said, “If you live around here, we should be mates." But the driver was in no mood for any friendship.
Several people on Twitter commended the man for standing up for himself as one wrote, “This man is totally and completely justified in his anger... 'Good intentions' do not justify racism. She would never have questioned a White man cleaning out a car.” “This is racist, despite Karen’s motivations: how about stepping out in front of her demanding she proved ownership of her bicycle. There are many bicycle thefts. Systemise that based on skin-colour/Karen-status: an assumption that you are not entitled to own a bicycle,” added another one.
This man is totally and completely justified in his anger... 'Good intentions' do not justify racism. She would never have questioned a white man cleaning out a car. https://t.co/A5NWY8HmxD
— Ashleigh Phillip (@ashholloway) August 24, 2020
This is racist, despite Karen’s motivations: how about stepping out in front of her demanding she proved ownership of her bicycle. There are many bicycle thefts. Systemise that based on skin-colour/Karen-status: an assumption that you are not entitled to own a bicycle. https://t.co/LMeKPx9t66
— Ali Bates (@xadium) August 24, 2020