Father who called 911 on the black man in his building explains his actions, apologize

The meeting was broadcast in a video posted on Facebook on July 4th.

A white man faced the person with the camera, a black man, asking him to get out of the San Francisco building where the white man was living or to call the person who was there. had invited. After the man had refused, the white man, later identified as Christopher Cukor, a YouTube official, called the police.

"You're just going to be the next person on TV," said Cukor, Wesley Michel, the man who was taking the video.

He was right.

After Michel posted the video on Facebook – "We are so July 4, 2019", he wrote – the video has taken off, fueled by social media algorithms that often favor scandalous and incendiary content, leaving behind a series of angry conversations.

In a few days, the video was viewed millions of times, after being put on the Twitter page of filmmaker Tariq Nasheed. It was later picked up by tabloid-type media like the New York Daily News and the Daily Mail.

For many, the video was another entry into the big public black book dealing with seemingly everyday things, the trend that gave birth to the #livingwhileblack hashtag.

"Another anti-Black racist in the #BayArea was filmed while he was making a fraudulent call to 911 on behalf of an innocent black man who was standing outside a building. waiting for the descent of his friend, "Nasheed wrote. "The name of the anti-Black racist is allegedly Christopher Cukor and he works for @youtube."

[‘You know why the lady called the police’: Black people face 911 calls for innocuous acts]

A stream of videos was posted on social media and then covered by the media which showed black people being harassed, threatened to call the police or insulted by doing everyday things, like swimming, barbecuing, napping, garden and meet at Starbucks.

But the man who confronted each other in this video came forward Tuesday to describe the confrontation from his point of view.

Cukor stated that he lived in the building and saw Michel get in without using the phone booth.

"I did what came naturally and asked where he was going," he wrote in an article he published on the Medium site. "I want to be clear on this point, it's something I do regularly, no matter who the other person is."

Cukor stated that Michel was a friend of the guest of a resident of the building.

He added that his actions were also revealed by a tragic family history: his father, Peter, was murdered in 2012 after clashing with a man suffering from mental illness who showed up in his alley in Berkeley, California.

"For the safety of my child, that of the building, I thought it was necessary to seek help in this situation," wrote Cukor. "Also, I met intruders in my building and we were stolen several times. This is not uncommon in San Francisco and the bad actors are all colors. "

But he said that Michel was also reacting on the basis of his story.

"Unfortunately, there is a terrible tendency to call the authorities about people of color for no other reason than their race," he wrote. "The last thing I thought was to echo this story – and I'm sorry for my actions that made Wesly feel unjustly focused because of his race."

Michel did not respond to messages left on a phone number indicated for him in public archives or on his Facebook page.

Police said the police had responded to Cukor's call but had left the scene after finding that no crime had been committed.

Cukor's son had begged him during the video to let Michel be.

"I agree with him dad. Leave it alone. I do not like it, he said. "Look what you got us into. Let's go. "

Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.

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