Video Shows Woman Yelling The N-Word, Spitting At Man Attending Margarita Fest
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Aug 1, 2016 9:58PM
Update, 12:00 p.m. Tuesday:
A disturbing video posted online Sunday shows a woman repeatedly yelling the n-word at a black man before spitting on him during the two-day Margarita Festival at the South Shore Cultural Center.
Ernest Crim, the Youtube user who goes by MrCrim3 online, is a southwest suburban teacher. He and his wife were attending the South Shore festival Saturday when a "belligerent and irate woman" called the couple the n-word repeatedly, knocked Crim's phone out of his hand when he began using it to record her, and spat on his wife.
"All of this was because we picked up a bean bag that she and her friends weren't using to play the Bean Bag Toss game," Crim wrote on Youtube. "This is the experience of being black in America in 2016, unfortunately."
The video went viral, receiving attention on various forms of social media. On Tuesday morning, Crim, 28, told Chicagoist the response to his video has been "99 percent positive," but he's also faced racism and online harassment in response. When he woke up this morning, he discovered his Facebook account had been deactivated.
"This is emotionally distressing," he said. "I've dealt with passive aggressive racism in my life, i've had people call me the n-word while driving by in a car, I've seen racist comments online, and I'm immersed in it fully, being a black person in America. But this type of experience has me distraught. I feel very paranoid now."
Crim said he was motivated to take the video of the incident and post it online because he wanted the woman to be held accountable for her actions. And in the moment, he said he was afraid that the interaction might escalate and put him in danger, at a time when shootings of unarmed black men around the country are making national news.
"She tried to call security, she swung at me, she tried to provoke me to attack her; I could have lost my life," he said. "I think we are at a stage now in society where people want equality for all, but if we don't see the discrimination and oppression, then how can we actually do something about it?"
As Crim told Mic Monday and confirmed to Chicagoist, the woman may have been intoxicated and was escorted off-site by security after the incident. Crim has reported the incident to the Chicago Police Department, but no charges have been made.
Police confirmed an incident that matches the above description: A 30-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man reported to authorities that on Saturday at roughly 6:15 p.m. “a female offender engaged the victims in a verbal altercation and then knocked a phone out of the male's hand then spat on the female victim's arm,” a police spokesperson told Chicagoist via email. The incident occurred in the 7000 block of S. South Shore Drive; and the offender was removed by security, police said. No one was in custody as of Monday evening.