A white couple entered a home — that did not belong to them — to question a Black man who was renting the place through Airbnb.
Video of the incident, which reportedly took place in Louisville, Kentucky, went viral on social media. The verbal exchange between the couple and the renter started when the white woman asked the man, “Do you live here?”
“What do you mean do I live here?” he responded. He then questioned the couple about why they entered the home without anyone’s permission. “So, you just walk into a house cause you saw Black people? You just profiled us?” he asked.
“If I was a Black person who just walked into your house like that, how would you feel?” he asked the woman. She replied, “I’d feel scared.”
The woman then claimed that she knew the owner of the home, but when the renter asked her if she knew that the owner was renting the spot, she replied, “He didn’t tell me anything. He’s selling the house — that’s all I know.”
The couple finally decided to leave and the Black man followed them outside. The white man told him that he was pulling the “race card” and said they were told that the home was no longer listed as an Airbnb. “If you saw somebody walk into a house that was empty, you would do the same thing, but you want to pull the race card with us,” he said.
The video, which was retweeted more than 15,000 times, caused an uproar on social media. Twitter user @JealousCloud tweeted, “You know the white woman was the one who initiated this. Why wouldn’t they ring the doorbell and introduce themselves? White people always believe they are the default authority.”
“You’re suspicious and supposedly know the owners of the house, but instead of calling them to ask what’s going on with the house, you feel like it’s ok for you to just walk in and interrogate the people about their presence,” tweeted @azkimhamm. “Stop the nonsense!”
Check out the video of the incident below.