#ItsAboveMe: A white woman called a black hotel clerk the N-word and his response has gone viral
Article By Rebecca Johnson // News Stories // Racism
Editor’s Note: *Warning This post contains sensitive and offensive language. Reader discretion is advised.
An African-American male hotel clerk named Craig Brooks has gone viral on social media for his response to a racist white woman who called him the N-word Sunday, June 2.
When the biased woman popped up at the front desk asking to have a room booked at the Holiday Inn Express in Austin, TX, the 26-year-old calmly refused, saying, “The Best Western is next door,” and answering her futile cries for admission with a now infamous phrase: “It’s above me.”
At the time of writing, the 59-second video capturing the interaction, which was viewed and retweeted by actress Gabrielle Union, and many others, has been watched over 3 million times. The hash tags #TheBestWestern and #ItsAboveMe are both trending online.
Whewwwww 😂🤣😂🤣😂 When those consequences kicked IN... #ItsAboveMe #TheBestWestern https://t.co/CZzoxpadW0
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) June 3, 2019
While the woman who spewed the hate speech cannot be seen on video, her voice is clearly heard attempting to make a case for why she deserved sympathy in that moment.
“Well, I need to stay here,” she said. “My mother died.”
Craig, who published the exchange, responded, “I understand that, but you called me a f*cking n*gger”—to which the woman replies, “I’m sorry.”
Craig, unfazed by the racist’s feigned penitence and change of heart, rebutted, “No, but you weren’t sorry when you said it on the phone.”
She persisted, “I said I was sorry,” to which Craig matter-of-factly and dryly stated, “It’s above me now,” and “The Best Western is next door.”
“Please…I’ve had a horrible day today,” said the grieving woman to Craig, who didn’t budge. In fact, he answered, “And I had a horrible time when hearing that.”
Since the video has gone viral, the Internet community has been unforgiving and relentless in their ridicule of the anonymous woman, while at the same time praising Craig’s tact, sense of calm, and polite handling of a hateful person.
Craig hash-tagged his video, #KillEmWithKindness — and that is exactly what he did.
Lesson of the day folks? Don’t disrespect people. You never know who you’ll need.
Just saw the #ItsAboveMe vid, yall gon learn at some point🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/LakeBT2X9m
— As_Told_By_Susie (@SusieCa36454311) June 3, 2019