Despite everything that has happened this year, from Amy Cooper calling the police to a black man who asked her to put a collar on her dog, to the many protests against racial injustice, things have not changed much in terms of everyday racism in America.
Jazz musician Keyon Harrold and his 14-year-old son unfortunately had to experience this truth this weekend, during their stay at the Hotel Arlo in Soho, New York.
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Harrold, a trumpeter who played with artists like Common and recorded the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the Miles Davis biopic Miles ahead, took to social media to share an incident of racial discrimination against his son by an unidentified white woman, which we will call Karen for the purposes of this article.
According to Harrold, he and his son were going to breakfast at the hotel on Saturday when they were approached in the lobby by Karen, who accused her son of stealing his phone.
A video he posted about the incident shows the woman hysterically demanding that the hotel manager take her son’s iPhone while declaring, “It’s mine.”
Although the boy replies that it is his phone number – and although Harrold says the woman in question was not a guest at the time – the white manager is seen instructing the black teenager to hand over his phone for his inspection.
But Harrold was not about to let his son be victimized by further racial discrimination. He directly says to the manager “No”, interrupting Karen’s rescue operation.
But of course, in typical fashion, the unidentified woman continues to pursue the two blacks she may encounter with unfounded criminal charges, shouting, “Show me the evidence!” that the boys’ phone is not hers.
The video is interrupted with her running after them and her voice getting louder and more hysterical. In the caption, Harrold explains that she scratched him and grabbed his son, adding that this is the trauma that his son must now carry.
What’s worse, a few minutes after she went after them, the woman’s phone was returned by an Uber driver.
After that disturbing disaster, Harrold said the woman did not apologize to him or her son – nor to the manager, who he called on to strengthen his outrageous behavior, even though they were hotel guests and she was not.
In a statement sent to The root on Sunday, an Arlo Hotels spokesman described the incident as “inexcusable” and said the duty manager “promptly called the police on the woman’s conduct”.
That’s not what was shown in the video, but that’s okay.
“We are deeply discouraged by the recent incident of unfounded accusation, prejudice and aggression against an innocent guest at the Arlo hotel,” the statement said. “More could have been done to slow down the dispute. No guest of Arlo – or anyone – should be subject to this type of behavior. “
The spokesman added that they contacted Mr Harrold and his son directly to apologize for the event and offer any help they may need. Although that is exactly what the hotel should do – it is still worrying that this teenager has to be treated as a suspect only on charges of a random white woman and the day after Christmas. It is also irritating that it took several hours for the video of the event to spread over the internet for the hotel to openly condemn the racist violence that was allowed on its property against its paying guests.
The root also contacted Harrold to comment on the matter – and to confirm that the hotel contacted him and his son to submit an apology.