A White woman in St. Louis has been fired after racially profiling a Black man at his own apartment.
D’Arreion Toles entered the Elder Shirt Lofts after returning home from a late night at the office on Oct. 13, according to his Facebook post. Brooke Thornton physically blocked Toles from entering the building.
Toles showed Thornton his key fob, but she still harassed him by following him into the building. Toles began filming and urged Thornton to leave him alone, saying, “Please stop following me, I do not want to speak with you.” Thornton eventually called the police.
“To be a Black man in America, and come home, women [sic] tries to stop me from coming into my building because she feels insecure,” Toles wrote on Facebook. “Downtown St. Louis luxury loft, because she don’t [sic] feel that I belong, never really thought this would happen to me, but it did! Then 30 mins later police knock on my door, because she called! I was shocked this is America in 2018!”
The Facebook post eventually went viral and Thornton caught backlash for her actions. She has since been fired, according to KMOV.
Thornton’s former employer, Tribeca-STL, released a statement about the incident and her dismissal.
“Tribeca-STL was recently shared a video containing a disturbing interaction that we believe is important to clarify,” the statement reads. “The video did involve one of our employees, but the event did NOT take place at Tribeca-STL and did NOT involve one of our tenants. The video is showing the employee in her private life at her own residence interacting with another person. The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds. We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company. After a review of the matter the employee has been terminated and is no longer with our Company. At Tribeca-STL we want all residents, guests and visitors to feel welcome, safe and respected.”
