A wheelchair-bound man was captured on video yelling racist slurs and spitting at the feet of a Black man, telling him to “pick it up.” But what happened next shocked many of the 80,000 viewers who had watched the interaction since it was posted on X.
Uploaded on Aug. 21, the video shows the unidentified white man in the wheelchair on a street corner at night as he begins to savagely mock a Black person, who filmed the entire incident.
Attempting to impersonate the Black man, the person with the disability said in an exaggerated voice, “I’m a dumb n-word,” and gestured in a demeaning way. He then unsuccessfully tried to shoo the Black man off the sidewalk and away from the street corner. “Get the f*ck out of here, you’ve got nothing better to do,” he yelled.
Before moving down the street, however, the angered man stopped his wheelchair to spit on the ground at the Black man’s feet, and what he said next would spark fury in anyone.
“Pick that up and I’ll watch you,” he said, referring to the spit on the ground. “If you’re tough, pick that up.”
The video then cuts to yet another disturbing scene. Not much later, the man with the disability, who was missing a leg, had somehow tipped over in his wheelchair and was lying on the sidewalk, alone and helpless.
Many in the comments on X said they would have left him “lying there all night [if] it was me.”
“They gotta learn,” said one, referring to people who spew racist hatred and insults. Others believed “karma took care of him,” while one said, “If you want to act like a savage Neanderthal, then you should be treated as such.”
It’s unclear what he was doing on the street at night. Data shows that wheelchair users in the U.S. face serious ongoing challenges, from inadequate healthcare and job barriers to building accessibility and transportation obstacles, and have a significantly higher rate of homelessness than the population as a whole.
Despite the “n-words” and the spitting, the man filming took the high road and chose kindness, offering to help.
“See the difference in the hearts of 2 people? One was brought up in hatred, the other was brought up in human decency and magnanimity,” wrote a commenter on X.
But even after the man put aside his indignation and offered assistance, the harasser would not take back what he said, but instead flat-out denied calling him a “dumb [N-word].”
“No, I didn’t say that,” the man claimed while lying cheek to cement on the sidewalk.
“You said I was a N-word back there. See how it works? I’m going to get you some help now,” replied the person filming, with many applauding his actions.
“Way to go, brother! Excellent job! More of this, please.”
