A Prince George’s County service station is under fire after a local woman says an employee hurled a racial slur at her.
Resident Rachel Sherman said she confronted a man doing state vehicle inspections at a local BP service station after he reportedly tried to overcharge her brother to have his car reinspected, local station WJLA reported.
“My brother called me and said well the guy is telling me it’s 100 dollars and it’s cash only,” Sherman said. “I said that didn’t sound right.”
The fee is typically just $30, she added.
“And as I turned to walk away, his exact words to me were ‘And we usually charge n—–s more,'” Sherman told the news station, saying the encounter prompted her to pull out her phone and start recording. “… I felt like I had literally been stabbed through the chest.”
The woman shared the video to her Facebook page, where it’s received more than a half a million views. Sherman called it “empowering” to see others in the community rally behind her to ensure something like this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
The owner of the gas station later confirmed with WJLA that the worker who uttered the racial slur had been fired. He and another man were also forced to apologize to Sherman directly, according to the station.
Since the incident, Sherman and community activist LaTasha Ward have called for a boycott of the man’s business.
“My biggest hope was to send a message to not only this gas station, but to other businesses in this community that don’t value us, any minority or any customer,” Sherman said. “We want to see that they want to be a part of this community and that they value the customers here. I’m not sure how they can do that from a business standpoint but we need to see more progress.”
https://www.facebook.com/smiley.pdmc/videos/vb.100003162412662/1567197960062269/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
