I first came across this story last night via my personal IG. I was too exhausted to look at the video because I knew, unfortunately, how the arc of the plot would play out. Here's what needs to happen though: This person needs to come forward and not only apologize, but face some hard consequences for their actions. Harrold is a Grammy-winning artist, but as we all know, that doesn't mean much when it comes to situations like this. And that's the rub. . . I also went to the @arlohotels' IG feed to check out the infamous "apology" post. 👎👎 . . This morning I awoke to find that the video had clearly gone viral, making it to the New York Times. I include an excerpt of the article below and a link to the full story and video: . . "On Saturday afternoon, Keyon Harrold, a prominent jazz musician, and his 14-year-old son walked into the lobby of the Arlo, a boutique hotel in SoHo where they were staying, when they were accosted by a woman they had never seen before. . . "The woman falsely accused the teenager of taking her cellphone and demanded that he give it back. Tensions escalated, with the woman insisting that the teenager had the phone, yelling at him and eventually tackling him and trying to look in his pockets before they could be separated, Mr. Harrold said. . . "Mr. Harrold, who is Black, captured parts of the altercation in a cellphone video, which was shared widely on social media this weekend as another example of false accusations against Black people. It drew comparisons to an incident in May when a white woman called 911 to falsely claim that a Black bird-watcher in Central Park was threatening her life. . . "Mr. Harrold said in an interview on Sunday that the SoHo episode had left him “shellshocked.” Read the entire account at https://nyti.ms/3nVtu1F . . #racismisasickness #arlohotel #newyorkcity #keyonharrold #racialprofiling #blackexcellenceassaulted #epicfail https://www.instagram.com/p/CJWJjWPrb1U/?igshid=636lirnc5y8
