A woman in Florida went on a racist rant against black landscapers and hurled abuses at them as they were finishing up their day's work, according to a video that has been doing the rounds on social media.
In the video, the woman can be seen going towards brothers Antonio and Antione Harries, who work as landscapers with a local company. Brandon Cordova, who also worked with the brothers at the company, began recording the woman's outburst. The video shows the woman shouting and screaming the workers. She kept repeating "you f****** b****" at them and later kept calling the crew "n*****." It remained unknown what triggered the woman.
"She was in my coworkers' face ... just going off. ... She was trying to say all those hateful things, and they weren't even being bothered — they were joking around. The more they were joking around, the more she got mad," Cordova reportedly said.
According to Antonio Harris, they tried to calm her down. "We tried to calm her down," Antonio Harris told the Orlando Sentinel. Added his brother, "The more we tried to calm her down, the more irate she got," he told the Orlando Sentinel.
"We don't look at color," Antonio Harris reportedly said. "Me and my twin brother are mixed ... we are African-American, but at the same time, this wouldn't be the first time that we've dealt with (racism), this is the most extreme time that we've dealt with it."
In the video, a neighbor went to the woman saying her screaming disturbed him and told her to calm down. However, the woman appeared not to budge and hurled abuses at the neighbor as well. Another neighbor reportedly urged the landscapers to file a complaint against the woman, who remained unidentified.
"I hope that the message isn't, 'Look at this crazy lady' or something to inspire more hate. It's more to show that there's people that think this way that are outdated. ... If you just ignore them in the end, what are they going to do to you?" Cordova said. Before leaving the neighborhood, one of the twins could be heard wishing the woman "a blessed day."
The incident reportedly happened on July 30, but the video went viral on Instagram and Facebook Tuesday. One of the posts garnered over 2 million views. Netizens hailed the crew's calm response to the racist abuse.
"Those men really showed restraint and were amazing in a completely horrible situation," one Facebook user wrote.
An Instagram user said: "You guys responded to her nasty racist [unnecessary] comments REALLY well! I will gladly call in and recommend you 4 have a paid day off!"
"I hope she walks into jail with that same mouth and attitude!," another Instagram user said.
