A white woman in Brooklyn has been fired from her job after telling a Black couple at a dog park to "go back to your hood." Frederick Joseph said he and his partner were targeted by the white woman because she confused his dog with another dog that had been barking loudly, CBS New York reports.
“She’s like, ‘You’re not from around here. Go back to your hood. Stay in your hood,'” Joseph said. “So I’m like, ‘Stay in my hood?’ Right, like? ‘You’re being racist right now,’ and she’s like, ‘I’m not being racist.'”
In a video Joseph posted on Twitter, the couple repeatedly asked the woman to confirm if she just told them to "stay in your hood." She responded by flipping them off, trying to knock the phone out of Joseph's hand and making herself appear to be the victim.
At the dog park in Brooklyn with my fiancé and this white woman was threatening to call police and told us to “stay in our hood” because she had our dog confused with another dog who had been barking loudly. So, I started recording and she tried to slap the phone out my hand. pic.twitter.com/9MXwMiU3Qb
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) September 26, 2021
The couple said they tried to explain to the park visitor that she was mistaking their dog for another. But the woman then started "going completely out of left field.”
“At that point, I’m like, look, what you’re doing is deeply, deeply offensive, deeply racist," Joseph said. "I want to get this on camera because I don’t want there to be any misconceptions about what took place here.”
Joseph’s fiancée, Porsche Landon, added that the woman said, "You people shouldn’t even be here.”
Steve Tracy, who had just met the couple at the park shortly before the incident, said he heard the woman telling the couple to go back to their hood.
“As those words were coming out and things started to unfold, it was pretty obvious to me, like, this is … this is not OK,” Tracy said.
Joseph later provide another update and identified the Karen as Emma Sarley, an employee at Bevy.
UPDATE: They found her. Her name is Emma Sarley and other info is in the thread. https://t.co/alv5usKhBg
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) September 26, 2021
Joseph said he spoke with Derek Andersen, the CEO of Bevy, and learned that the employee has since been fired.
I’ve been told that @DerekjAndersen and @bevyhq have let go of Emma Sarley, as her racism against me and fiancé doesn’t align with their values. I hope this is a lesson in accountability and consequences for Emma and others. pic.twitter.com/vgHgmL0dCa
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) September 26, 2021
Anderson confirmed the report on his own Twitter.
"@BevyHQ has zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior of any kind," he wrote. "Yesterday an employee engaged in behavior contrary to our values and has been terminated. We apologize deeply to all involved."
.@BevyHQ has zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior of any kind. Yesterday an employee engaged in behavior contrary to our values and has been terminated. We apologize deeply to all involved.
— Derek Andersen (@DerekjAndersen) September 26, 2021
Joseph is an author who has written a book titled The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person.
“I think that it’s important that people know that there are consequences for their actions,” the author said.
