Florida Woman Filmed Calling Black Teen the N-word in Racist Rant After He Drops Gum Wrapper
A Florida woman has been caught on tape repeatedly yelling the n-word at a teenager and demanding that he get down on his knees and pick up a gum wrapper he threw on the ground.
The unidentified woman also directed racist abuse at family members of 14-year-old Barry Henry during incident in St. Petersburg, Florida, first reported WFLA show 8 On Your Side.
She launched her racist rant at the teenager shortly after he left church with his family on Sunday. Henry's mother told WFLA that he took out a piece of gum during the walk back to their car and threw its wrapper on the ground.
It was then that the woman reportedly began shouting racist abuse at the 14-year-old while one of his family members recorded the incident.
In a video of the racist tirade shared by Barry Henry's sister Deysha Henry, 24, on Facebook Sunday, the woman yelled: "Don't even act like that. Pick it up. Find it. Get down on your knees and find it."
She went on to call the teen a "little [n-word]" and again said they were "f***ing [n-words]" in the racist rant caught on camera.
"Film me, f***er, film me," the unidentified woman is heard saying to the person behind the camera at the end of the video.
Actual footage of a woman talking to my 14 year old brother and cousin in this manner, near Williams Park in St. Pete today, because he dropped a gum wrapper on the ground, he was going to pick it up until she started calling him out of his name. Almost 2020 and we still are dealing with being spoken to in this manner over what exactly? A gum wrapper. Tasteless. 🙄.
Posted by Deysha Adriana on Sunday, October 6, 2019
Newsweek has reached out to Deysha for further comment on the racist tirade, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Speaking to WFLA, she said: "I think that woman was already upset about something else and just a reason to act out, like go from zero to ten.
"People feel bad for my brother. Yes, he was wrong for dropping a gum wrapper on the ground, but it did not warrant her response."
She also said that their grandmother had told Barry to pick up his chewing gum wrapper before the woman started yelling racist abuse.
The boy's mother Tykeshia Henry-Burch told WFLA that she was "livid" when Barry Henry showed her the video, later adding: "He told me it hurt him and that he felt, well he said to me, 'I feel traumatized, mom.'"
She also addressed social media comments about her son littering, saying she chastised her son for dropping the wrapper and told him: "Don't ever litter."
