An Uber ride turned into a nightmare for a Tallahassee, Florida, man after his white driver began racially harassing him.
Javon O’Neal uploaded his horrific Uber experience on Facebook after recording a SnapChat video of his Uber driver calling him a nigger.
The Black passenger was heading to his new job on Thursday and was picked up by an Uber employee who is identified only as “Michael.” O’Neal said the eight-minute ride turned sour the moment his driver began discussing race and politics, WTXL reported.
(photo credit: screenshot)
That’s when the ride service worker began spewing racial slurs at O’Neal. O’Neal’s mother, Quita Conyers, who sent the video footage to the TV station, said the driver was rude to her son the moment O’Neal entered the vehicle. The driver allegedly made remarks like “I’m only doing this for a favor” and “you’re living in a white man’s world.”
“I’m still terrified about it,” Conyers expressed.
The Uber employee said he was giving the passenger “a Caucasian person’s opinion.”
After the racist incident, O’Neal posted “Racism still exists” on social media. He then notified the company about the driver’s behavior and stated, “This ride made me feel very uncomfortable emotionally and exhausted and not comfortable with getting another Uber.”
The driving service immediately fired the driver after the incident and released the following statement:
“Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination. … As soon as we were made aware of this, we removed the driver’s access from the app,” an Uber spokesperson stated.
The rider’s mother said incidents like this happen all the time and said it could’ve been much worse.
“I know for a fact if my son would’ve scratched his head, he might’ve been dead today,” Conyers said.
O’Neal’s girlfriend, Asia Jarmon, who requested the Uber, told the news station, “It’s 2018, but it’s still going on.”
O’Neal’s mother said her son experienced this terrible incident because of his race.
“I think it’s just wrong and mean for anyone to call someone out their name, especially a person in their profession who chose to do a job to get somebody where they need to be and this is what he [O’Neal] has to go through because he’s a Black man.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRvaMrYE8Ko
