A Black Florida man says he is afraid to return to work after a white man threatened to hang him during a racist tirade.
Project manager Antavis Johnson said he was “just doing his job” this week when he knocked on a couple’s door near Orlando, Florida, where he was chased and assailed with racial slurs and violent threats.
He was going door-to-door to give residents handouts about the upcoming utility upgrades in the neighborhood he would be overseeing. But when he knocked on his last door for the day, he was met with displeasure.
“The wife opened it, and I could tell immediately she was upset. I politely said, ‘I’m so sorry if this isn’t a good time,’” Johnson recalled.
Johnson said the woman called her husband, who came running out of the house and demanded that he leave the property.
“Before I could even step off their porch, he started screaming the N-word at me, yelling, ‘Get off my property! Get out of my neighborhood!’” said Johnson, who recorded the confrontation.
Johnson posted the video on his TikTok page with background music. Even though Johnson walks away from the property, the couple follows him down the street.
“Oh, he said he’s recording,” the white woman is heard saying.
White man: F-ck you.
White woman: That’s right, report me.
White man: Get your Black ass out of here, motherf——r, stop listening. Get your Black ass out of here. Get fucked up… Get your f—king ass beat, motherf—ker, get the f—k out of here, record that sh-t, come back together. I’ll f—king hang your a– now.
White woman: I hope you show your employers, show your employers, because this is what your employees do.
White man: Dumb fucking n—ger, there’s no truth, and get your Black ass the fuck out of here.
Johnson posted another video where he is seemingly talking to police officer who tells him “no crime was committed.”
“I was terrified for my life. I have a 4-year-old daughter to take care of, and since this happened, I haven’t been able to bring myself to go back to work,” Johnson said. “That fear lives in me now. I never imagined I would be threatened and attacked with hate just for doing my job.”
