Black and White…or Not?

 

By now, most of us have seen the video shown on news programs across the country the last few days.  It is a cell phone video shot by a black man of a white woman trying to prevent him from entering the Elder Shirt Lofts building in Saint Louis, Missouri, where he rents an apartment.

When I heard the first news report about the case, it seemed to be a clear-cut case of racial profiling and anybody with good sense could see that, right?

Hold your horses for just a minute.

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According to various news reports, Hilary Thornton, the woman clearly seen in the video, was not a resident of the building, and the company she worked for, Tribeca-STL (a real estate management company) was not affiliated with the building either.

The black man who was filming the episode, D’Arreion Toles, was a legal resident of the building.

So Thornton must have been blocking poor Toles’s access solely because he was black, right?

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Since D’Arreion’s video hit the internet it has exploded into viral status.  Within 24 hours of the incident, Thornton was fired from her job for racial profiling.  Before long she began receiving nasty messages, up to and including death threats, and has been branded a racist on line.

Serves her right, right?

If you’ve been reading my blog more than just the last couple minutes you know me well enough that you’re probably waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Well, here it comes.

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It turns out that Ms. Thornton is a legal resident of the building, as is Mr. Toles.  They only live one floor apart.  Hilary says she has never met D’Arreion, which may be a little surprising for some of my fellow country dwellers, but he said he had never met her either.

Since the incident came to light, she has shown emails which she had received from the apartment’s condo association board members which advise residents to “never allow access to any individual that you do not know.”  The emails say things such as, “be aware of anyone you may not be familiar with trying to follow you in the building,” and, “it’s for the safety of everyone in the building,” and goes on to advise, “never allow someone to enter when you enter or exit.”

Ms. Thornton claims that she was holding the door ajar while her dog went out to go to the bathroom at the end of a leash.  While the door was held partly open, she says Mr. Toles started to enter, at which point she asked for proof that he lived there.  He refused.

I might point out here that Toles was never particularly rude in his refusal to comply with Thornton.  He did push past her after the two had exchanged a few words but he was never what I would call violent.

Ms. Thornton then followed Mr. Toles into the elevator and up to his floor, then out of the transport and to his door.  She says that, when she saw him open the door with his key, she realized that he was there legitimately.

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So far it sounds like one uptight resident, maybe a racist, sticking her nose into someone else’s business farther than she should have.

But there are other details not every news report has revealed.

There have been problems at the building in the past.  Because of that, one other resident, Lynn Schlosser, says she has done the same thing Thornton did on numerous occasions.  She explained, “I do it all the time. I’ve had even UPS drivers, FedEx, and they’ll stand there … and I’ll say, ‘I’m not gonna even let you in. Unless you buzz the resident you’re going to or have your code.’ It’s in order to protect everyone that lives there.”

Oh, and Schlosser was mugged a year ago at the same door where this incident took place.

The tenants’ association issues key fobs for just such situations.  If someone has any questions about whether someone is a resident, the person in question can just show the fob and everything is clarified.

That’s all Toles had to do; just show Thornton his fob and the whole situation could have been minimized.  Instead, he resisted the request and earned his five minutes of fame.

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But, does that mean that Hilary Thornton is not a racist?  I don’t know; does the fact that she’s legally married to an African American mean she is…or not?

And what about D’Arreion Toles?  Is he a racist?

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One thing I think we can all agree on is that racism is still a real problem in the United States, and I would assert that it goes both ways.  More than that, I think that willingness to understand others is becoming an endangered attitude among many residents in my beloved country.

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A couple things…I think Ms. Thornton was within her rights and just doing what the condo association had asked all residents to do – deny entry to non-residents.  I do think she was foolish for getting into the elevator alone (her little dog didn’t seem very aware of the situation) with a man she didn’t know and suspected might be there to commit an illegal act.  I think she was foolish but still within her rights.

Also, I think Mr. Toles was hung up on his rights and ignored common courtesy.  All he had to do was show Thornton his key fob and I really believe she would have left him alone to go to his apartment unobstructed.

Heck, I’ll even bet he would have been tickled if Ms. Thornton had stopped someone else, black OR white, if they really were trying to enter his building illegally.

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In closing, you know I don’t ever want to live in a huge apartment building or a big city but, if I ever do, Ms. Thornton and Mr. Toles both seem like the kind of people I wouldn’t mind having as neighbors.

But we should keep in mind that common sense and common courtesy both go a long way toward making neighbors into good neighbors.

Just sayin’.

 

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(below) The original video made by D’Arreion Toles during his interchange with Hilary Thornton.  Various news programs have shaded it depending on their political beliefs but, I think, after reading my post, you’ll see that it was much more innocent than many have made it out to be.