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Joshua Black: Tennessee woman wrongly accuses Black man of stealing cars in viral video

The man's apartment complex stated the suspect was actually a White adolescent on a bike with a red backpack and not a Black man

A viral TikTok video, which has garnered nearly 12 million views, captured a woman confronting a Black man and accusing him of fitting the description of someone who was breaking into cars in a Nashville apartment garage. "First off, we have break-ins here in cars," said the woman standing with another man. Joshua Black, who captured the video, replied saying his own car had been broken into recently and that he has been living in the apartment building for five years. He claimed that the woman accused him of following her. 

"White woman walked up to my car demanding to know why I was in the parking garage of MY apartment? Wow #foryou #foryoupage #racist #blacklivesmatter, Joshua Black wrote, sharing the video on TikTok and Twitter. The woman, meanwhile, said that someone had broken into her car and Black fit the description of the man who had been breaking into other cars at the complex as he was wearing a hoodie and carrying a backpack. 

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However, according to the apartment complex, the suspect was actually a White adolescent on a bike with a red backpack. Black claimed that he did not know the woman and has not heard from her since the incident. Before the start of the video, Black claimed that the woman knocked on his car window and asked him if he lived in the apartment. He assumed that she was probably a driver for DoorDash and wanted to know how to get to an elevator. However, she later allegedly began asking him questions angrily and taking photographs of his car. 

"In her brain, she didn't need to owe me an explanation, but I had to owe her an explanation," Black said. The woman allegedly became angry when he asked her if she too lived in the same building. He began recording the woman expecting she might calm down if she realized she was being recorded, but she continued to question him. She kept taking photos of his car even as he walked away. 

"It happens almost every day to every Black person," Black said. "This incident happened to be caught on camera. This is no different from a regular Tuesday. Subtle racism happens every day, but you can't record it all." Claiming that the man standing with woman was equally responsible, Black said, "It's like when you get used to living in chaos and someone takes you out of it that you realize it was chaotic." ""It can break you can give you a sense of inferiority, or it does the opposite," Black said. "I feel like I can go into any space and not get disrespected. I'm more confident in who I am," he added.