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  • 2018-08-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Racist Who Followed a Black Man Home to Call Him a Racial Slur Have His Business Destroyed? (en)
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  • On 31 July 2018, the liberal Facebook page The Other 98% shared a meme reporting that a man who followed an African-American driver to his home to call him a racial slur after a traffic incident had his business destroyed as a result of being caught on video doing so: The meme was no different than most in that it was a facile representation of a series of news stories about a late July 2018 incident in Columbus, Ohio, involving racism and road rage. Charles Lovett, who is African-American, told reporters Jeffrey Whitman, a white man, followed him on his drive home because Whitman believed Lovett had cut him off near Interstate 71. Lovett took cell phone video that showed Whitman stopped in front of Lovett's driveway, and as the two argued over the incident, Whitman called Lovett the N-word several times. But Whitman didn't pursue and harass Lovett in his personal vehicle ... he did so in a company van that had the name of his business (Uriah's Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration) and phone number emblazoned on its side: The quote attributed to Whitman in the meme was taken from a 29 July 2018 column in the Columbus Dispatch penned by Theodore Decker. Decker said the comment was made in a voice message that Whitman left him: We tried reaching out to Whitman by telephone and Facebook messenger but received no response from him about the status of his business. On 25 July 2018, Whitman issued an apology to Lovett, writing: Lovett, for his part, said he could not accept Whitman's apology because a day earlier in a television interview with local TV station WCMH, Whitman said he had no regrets whatsoever for what he said because he grew up with it and it's not a big deal for me. The phrase, I really don't care do u? at the bottom of the meme is a play on a jacket worn by First Lady Melania Trump as she boarded a plane to visit facilities sheltering migrant children who had been taken from their parents under President Trump's zero tolerance immigration policy. (en)
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