Husband fired, wife apologizes for calling police on man writing BLM on his property
A white woman who called the police on a Filipino man for writing “Black Lives Matter” in chalk on a wall in front of his San Francisco home last week apologized Sunday for her actions after receiving backlash.
A man identified by several news outlets as the woman’s husband, who was also involved in the incident and can be seen in the video, was fired Monday from his job, a day after his wife released her apology, according to a statement from his employer posted to Twitter.
James Juanillo shared a video on Twitter Friday of the encounter with Lisa Alexander and her husband, which has been viewed more than 15 million times.
“The last 48 hours has taught me that my actions were those of someone who is not aware of the damage caused by being ignorant and naive to racial inequalities,” Alexander, who is the CEO of a San Francisco-based company called LaFace Skincare, wrote in a statement shared with several news outlets.
“When I watch the video I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did. It was disrespectful to Mr. Juanillo and I am deeply sorry for that. I did not realize at the time that my actions were racist and have learned a painful lesson,” she wrote.
Alexander’s apology comes one day after Birchbox, an online monthly subscription service that sends beauty products to customers, announced on Twitter it will cut ties with LaFace.
“There is absolutely no space at Birchbox for racism, and we condemn Lisa Alexander’s actions,” the company wrote. “We’ve removed their products from our website and will not be working with them again in the future.”
Alexander has taken her company’s website offline, CBS News reported.
The man with Alexander was an employee at Raymond James, an investment management firm, according to FOX4. The company also took to Twitter to announce his termination.
“After an investigation into the circumstances of a video alleging racism by one of our associates, we have concluded that the actions of he and his partner were inconsistent with our values, and the associate is no longer employed by Raymond James,” the firm wrote.
“What she did was everyday,” Juanillo told San Francisco ABC station KGO. “It’s polite racism. It’s respectable racism. ‘Respectfully, sir, I don’t think you belong here at all.’”
In the video, Alexander can be heard telling Juanillo, “this is not the way to do it,” in reference to protests for the Black Lives Matter movement sparked after George Floyd, 46, died while in police custody May 25 after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, as three other officers didn’t intervene.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao were also fired and arrested, charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Alexander and her walking partner say Juanillo is illegally “defacing private property” because they personally know the people who live in the Pacific Heights building, according to the video.
Juanillo informs the couple that he does live in the building, and asks, “if I did live here, and it was my property, this would be absolutely fine?”
Alexander says “yes” and proceeds to call the police, who Juanillo says “did not even get out of the car” after recognizing him, he told KGO.
“And that, people, is why Black lives matter,” Juanillo is heard saying as the couple walks away.
The incident adds to many others in recent weeks where white women - now called “Karens” on social media - call 911 to report Black people doing normal activities in their communities, such as bird watching.
Alexander said in her statement she should have minded her own business and said she would “love” to have coffee with Juanillo, so she could apologize in person.
“She (Alexander) decided to call men with guns because of chalk art,” said Juanillo, who has lived in Pacific Heights for 18 years, runs a dog-walking business and is a “proud, gay Filipino,” according to CBS News.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced fear or even loathing that just kind of creeps out,” Juanillo said.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 12:38 PM.
