A North Carolina man is out of a job after he was caught harassing a black woman at their neighborhood pool.
Jasmine Edwards posted a video of her arguing with Adam Bloom, who demanded she show identification before entering the pool in their Winston-Salem neighborhood. Edwards confirmed she had a keycard to enter the gated area, but Bloom wasn't satisfied.
“Where does it say that I have to show an ID to use my pool? My own pool,” Edwards said in the video.
“It doesn’t say she has to show an ID anywhere,” a witness said.
Bloom was adamant about the ID even though the officers were on Edwards' side.
"If she has a card to get in the pool, I believe that should be enough,” an officer said. Bloom responded by asking the officer to verify the card was real. When the card unlatched the gate, Bloom came up with another excuse.
“They kinda make their way around sometimes,” he said. “But that’s good enough for me today.”
The video went viral, and Bloom was dubbed #IDadam. When internet sleuths tracked down Bloom's place of employment, they demanded action, and the company obliged.
Consumer packaging company Sonoco confirmed Adam Bloom no longer works for the company in a statement posted on its social media pages:
"We are aware of a terrible incident involving the actions of one our employees outside of the workplace. The well-documented incident, which involves activities at a neighborhood pool over the 4th of July, does not reflect the core values of our Company, and the employee involved is no longer employed by the Company in any respect.
Our core values at Sonoco are built on dignity and respect for all, and we do not condone discrimination of any kind, inside or outside of the workplace. With more than 20,000 employees across the globe of all races, religions, colors and creeds, we value the diverse experiences and perspectives our teammates bring to our company, which make us better each and every day. We are proud of the culture of diversity, inclusion and unity we have fostered over our 119 years; and we take seriously any incidents that do not reflect our values.
On behalf of our more than 20,000 teammates around the world, we extend our sincerest apologies to all who have been hurt by this incident, especially Ms. Edwards and her family."
Following the incident, Bloom resigned from his position as the pool’s chairman and board member, according to The Winston-Salem Journal.
The Glenridge Homeowners Association released a statement apologizing for the incident and Bloom's actions:
“We sincerely regret that an incident occurred yesterday at our community pool that left neighbors feeling racially profiled,” the association’s statement said. “In confronting and calling the police on one of our neighbors, the pool chair escalated a situation in a way that does not reflect the inclusive values Glenridge seeks to uphold as a community. We also have re-instituted a sign-in sheet at the pool to make sure no resident feels singled out again.”
John Vermitsky, Bloom's attorney, said Bloom was just trying to do his job as pool chair and that he approached Edwards because another neighbor asked him about her membership.
“I think the situation is unfortunate that conclusions are being reached by people who have seen a 46-second video of their interaction. He called the police to make sure that the interaction didn’t escalate," said Vermitsky. "Nothing about his resignation implies that he did anything wrong.”
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