James Juanillo was stenciling "Black Lives Matter" in chalk onto his own property when a white couple called the police on him.
The woman who confronted James Juanillo, a Filipino man, for stenciling "Black Lives Matter" in chalk onto his San Francisco property apologized in a statement Sunday. Lisa Alexander, recorded by Juanillo in a video that went viral last week, wrote, "The last 48 hours has taught me that my actions were those of someone who is not aware of the damage caused by being ignorant and naive to racial inequalities."
“When I watch the video," she continued, "I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did. It was disrespectful to Mr. Juanillo and I am deeply sorry for that."
The video starts with Alexander and a man identified as Robert Larkin asking Juanillo if where he was stenciling was his property. “You’re free to express your opinions, but not on people’s property,” Larkin told Juanillo moments after he finished writing the phrase on a wall outside of his own home.
“If I did live here, and this was my property, this would be absolutely fine? And you don't know if I live here, if this is my property?" Juanillo asked.
Alexander then claimed she knew Juanillo didn't own the property because they "know the person who does live here."
When Juanillo asked for the couples’ last names, they refused to give it to him.
"We're not doing anything illegal," says Alexander.
"Neither am I," says Juanillo.
Juanillo encouraged them to call the police if they felt like a crime was happening, which they eventually did. Juanillo told CBS San Francisco the police did not even get out of their car when checking out the call shortly after the video was taken. "She decided to call men with guns because of chalk art," Juanillo said.
One of the owners of the property, Brad Gilbertson, says he doesn't know the couple in the video.
"What she did is polite racism. It's respectable racism. 'Respectfully, sir, I don't think you belong here,'" Juanillo told ABC7 News.
Twitter users identified Alexander as the CEO of LaFace Skincare. Birchbox, a makeup distribution service, posted a statement on Twitter saying they "condemn the actions of Lisa Alexander” and officially cut ties with LaFace.
LaFace Skincare has taken its website offline according to CBS San Francisco.
Larkin was fired from his wealth-management company, Raymond James, who issued a statement on Monday, a day after Alexander’s apology. “After an investigation into the circumstances of a video alleging racism by one of our associates, we have concluded that the actions of he and his partner were inconsistent with our values, and the associate is no longer employed by Raymond James,” the company wrote.
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