In today’s highly-charged, increasingly polarizing environment, the audacity with which some are willing to display their racism has reached peak boldness. In this clip, award-winning television reporter, Steve Crump, who is with Charlotte’s CBS affiliated WBTV, circles back to confront a man who referred to him with a racial slur.
In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Crump, who was in Charleston to cover Hurricane Mathew, said he was walking to his news van when he passed 21-year-old Brian Eybers recording into his iPad. Crump said that as he walked passed Eybers said, ‘There’s a black guy walking around here, no he’s a slave, no he’s the n-word.” Hearing the this commentary, Crump turned around and asked the man to repeat himself. WBTV photographer Devin Futrelle recorded the confrontation from that point.
After initially denying his use of the derogatory term, Eybers owns up to using the racial slur in reference to the black reporter and obliges Crump’s request for him to spell the word out saying, “N as in Nancy, I as in indigo, G as in grant, another G as in grant, E as in Edward and R as in Roger.” After the brief confrontation, Crump turned to leave and Eybers stood in front of the news van to prevent him from leaving. Eybers was arrested and escorted from the scene after Crump called and reported his behavior to the police. The mayor of Charleston reached out to Crump the following day to personally apologize on behalf of the city.
Crump, called the “civil rights reporter in town with his documentaries and daily stories,” also covered the Charleston Shooting, and this confrontation was just blocks away. “You still have this kind of mentality being carried out where the wounds are very fresh and very real,” he said.
Watch the full interaction here:
