'Because I'm black': Man cleaning his car accused of being thief by white woman
A black man in Bristol, England, claims he was racially profiled after a white woman questioned if he owned the car he was removing the glove box from.
Abdi Kheyre was tidying up his car from the passenger’s seat when he was approached by the woman who asked him for his registration number.
“I’ve got an old Ford Fiesta, and I pulled out my glove compartment and with the strength I pulled it out with, the whole thing pulled out and then my fuse box was out on show,” Mr Kheyre told The Independent.
He started filming the incident and shared it on social media stating on his Twitter account he had “never seen anything like it before”.
In the video that has now been viewed almost three million times, a woman can be seen standing next to her bike when Mr Kheyre says: “This white lady thinks I’m robbing my own car because I’m black”.
“What’s your reg number?” the lady asks again.
“You look like you’re rifling through somebody’s glove box,” she says pointing at him.
“That’s my flipping car, you think I’m robbing my own car because I’m black?” Mr Kheyre replies.
The woman continues to ask for the registration number while Mr Kheyre suggests she call the police.
“Well I might do,” she replies, while Mr Kheyre continues to say he is being targeted by the woman because of his race.
“Everything comes down to race now, doesn’t it?” she replies.
Woman returns to make peace with aggrieved man
When Mr Kheyre reads out his registration number the woman checks it and begins to walk off.
“Brilliant, lovely... I was just checking,” she says.
An irate Mr Kheyre repeatedly swears at the woman telling her to “f*** off” as she insists her interference was “nothing about race”.
Moments later the woman returns on foot and attempts to apologise, suggesting the two could be friends.
“Can I just say, if you live around here, we should be mates,” she says.
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Mr Kheyre repeatedly says he does not want to talk to her and the video ends.
“I’ve lived in this area in Bristol for the past 10 years. I’ve been parking my car here for years now and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Mr Kheyre wrote on social media.
Some people responded asking Mr Kheyre why he became aggressive but he quickly defends himself.
“To the people saying I should’ve not swore at her. F**k off.. if someone is racially profiling you, you just going to say nothing and be calm? Hell no. Don’t be nice to racists. Enough is enough,” he wrote.
Many users agreed and defended Mr Kheyre’s behaviour in the video saying he reacted strongly because the woman made a strong accusation.
“Without any hesitation she called him a thief,” one follower wrote.
“Has the cheek to say ‘just checking’ when you recalled your licence number. Like for some reason she is authorised to ask you questions,” another person added.
“People criticising him for getting angry are completely missing the point. If you get hassled enough times and always have to ‘be calm and reply nicely’ to prove that you are a good black man and not some scary image must be frustrating, demeaning and would certainly make me angry,” one woman wrote.
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