An Arizona man who directed racial slurs at a Black YouTuber on the street is claiming that he's not racist.
According to CNN, Paul Ng accosted Andre Abram and his friend while they were shooting a video, taking the young men's pictures without cause and telling them they were in "a no n****r zone."
After getting arrested and fired from his real estate job following the incident, Ng said he's not racist, but rather reacted poorly.
"Although provoked, I should not have responded in that manner," the disgraced man told CNN.
Abram said he and his friend hadn't done anything to provoke the perpetrator when they were doing their project in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"We were on a public road. We weren't being loud," the YouTuber said. "We weren't being belligerent. We weren't being disorderly."
The story went viral after Abram and his friend posted video of the incident on social media, leading to repercussions against Ng.
"On Sunday we learned of an extremely hateful and racist video that was posted to social media showing one of our inactive Independent Contractors, Paul Ng, demonstrating abhorrent, unacceptable behavior," Russ Lyon Sotheby's Real Estate Agency stated. "We took immediate action in severing his license, terminating his involvement with us effective immediately and condemning his disgusting behavior."
The video shows Abram asking Ng, "Why are you coming over here?"
"I just wanted to see what you guys were taking pictures of," the 74-year-old said.
The Arizona man shamelessly described himself as a racist during the confrontation while declaring the area as "a no n****r zone."
He also claimed the building behind him as his home and asked Abram about his car's Michigan license plate, which the young man still keeps after moving from Detroit five months ago.
Abram kept his composure during the incident and continued to record until the racist man backed away.
"Just because he called me that racial slur does not mean that I can go be physical, because being physical is illegal while him using his First Amendment to say whatever he wants to say is not," the 25-year-old told CNN.
Kathi Ouellet, who owns the business building seen in the video, said Ng is not connected to River Trading Post, but lives in a condo upstairs.
"As far as I'm concerned, it was off the charts wrong," Ouellet told KPNX. "Frankly, I found this really shocking. I didn't expect this from him."
Police said Ng was booked and released on Saturday after he was charged with disorderly conduct for "using derogatory and racist terminology which later had the propensity to cause escalating violence."
Abram delivered an uplifting message to his viewers as he continued to record in the street immediately after the incident.
"I'm coming out here to give my people the best motherf**kin motivation they can get," the videographer said. "I came out here to inspire my people. I came out here to give the people that juice, just that power. To get up and do what they wanna do every morning. What did I get that for that? I get this motherf**ker over here being a racist."
The 25-year-old continued to proudly march through the streets and captured the racist man blowing leaves at his residence.
"As he's blowing leaves and as I'm out here motivating the people, he wanna try to be a racist," Abram said. "It's all good because I'm getting the money. I'm changing the people's lives. I'm helping people. I'm motivating people."
And the young man made it more clear that he will not be told where he belongs.
"He gonna tell me this n****r free. But n***a standing on it," Abram said.
According to police reports, Ng said he surveys the area every morning, searching for any "suspicious individuals."
Police said the 74-year-old told an officer about Black Lives Matter and Antifa, implying that "Black individuals in the area that do not belong in the area, belong to these groups."
As Blavity previously reported, an increase in hate crimes has been reported in recent years. Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, was being targeted by a white supremacist in Idaho.
Garza blamed President Donald Trump's racist rhetoric for the spike in hate crimes.
"This is why this President is so dangerous," she said on Twitter. "He is stoking fires he has no intention of controlling. I’m ok y’all, but this s*** is not ok. Vote this muthaf***a out. For real."
This is why this President is so dangerous. He is stoking fires he has no intention of controlling. I’m ok y’all, but this shit is not ok. Vote this muthafucka out. For real.
— Alicia Garza (@aliciagarza) October 23, 2020
In Georgia, a white teenager was recently sentenced to juvenile prison after planning to attack members of a historically Black church last year. A 19-year-old North Carolina man was also found with a van full of weapons and explosives, planning to attack Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.