A Black Amazon employee says he was suspended indefinitely after a white man complained about him and called him racial slurs. According to a GoFundMe campaign, the incident occurred when Amazon Driver Associate Nikolas Mayrant was delivering a package to the home of Brad Boynton, who also works for Amazon, in Cornelius, North Carolina.
In a video of the situation, recorded via a Ring Doorbell, Boynton can be seen yelling at Mayrant and speaking on the phone with another Amazon colleague to complain about the delivery. Mayrant said Boynton falsely accused him of breaking several Amazon policies, including allegedly parking his car incorrectly and walking across his lawn. However, Mayrant says he simply “park[ed] awkwardly on a narrow street” to avoid other parked cars.
“After waiting behind my van for no longer than 20 seconds, the individual slammed the door in my face whilst I was trying to deliver his package to him,” Mayrant said of Boynton, who he said also began taking pictures of him.
While on the phone with his Amazon colleague, Boynton can also be heard repeatedly calling Mayrant the N-word. Mayrant’s sister, Heather Rose, posted the video on her Instagram and called the incident “heartbreaking.”
“I know racism is still alive, [I] mean I see it all the time on the internet & it hurts me then, but it’s a little more heartbreaking & shocking to see when it’s my blood brother,” she wrote on Tuesday (Sept. 7). “Anyone who knows my brother knows he is the most quiet person & stays to hisself! Yesterday while on the job for [Amazon] he was delivering a package to this man in Cornelius, [North] Carolina. He begun to take pics of my brother and calling Amazon filing a complaint. We later found out it was because the man didn’t like the way he parked his Amazon truck.”
“My brother asked him why the pictures, because it’s never happened to him. So as he’s on the phone with his Amazon colleague friend (who thought it was acceptable to call him a N-g** as well) He begins to curse him out & call him a N-g**multiple times,” she continued. “My brother was FIRED from his job for askin the guy why the pics & walkin on his grass after he called him a N-g**.”
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump also called attention to the situation on Twitter on Wednesday (Sept. 8).
“This is unacceptable!” he tweeted. “A Black Amazon driver was FIRED from his job after a neighborhood resident called him racial slurs & harassed him while taking photos of him. Why was this young man terminated when he was the victim of this shameful harassment?!”
Boynton sent the Ring Doorbell video, Mayrant said, to his Amazon colleague and station manager, leading to Mayrant’s termination.
“This is nepotism and racism at its finest,” Mayrant wrote on his GoFundMe page. See the video and posts about the situation below.