
A woman in San Francisco has apologised after she confronted her neighbour over a stencil on his own property.
The man, who has since been identified as James Juanillo, posted the video on Twitter and Facebook, saying that the incident had happened over the weekend in Pacific Heights, a wealthy neighbourhood in San Francisco.
Juanillo says he was using chalk to stencil a message – Black Lives Matter – on the property he lives in.
A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stencilling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retai… https://t.co/LHXGPdNtcl— James Juanillo (@James Juanillo) 1591936577
In the video, Juanillo is confronted by a couple who are 2 metres away from him, and who seem to be recording the encounter too.
A woman is talking to the person behind the camera and asks if this is Juanillo’s property. She says that she’s ‘respectfully’ asking – and that the ‘signs and everything’ are good.
She then says, “This is not the way to do it.” She also goes on to say that she ‘does know the person who lives here’ and that it isn’t Juanillo.
Juanillo uploaded the video to Twitter, and it’s been retweeted over 155,000 times since. The woman was identified as Lisa Alexander, the owner of a skincare brand in California.
In the video, Alexander and the man that she’s with seem to walk away, but not before saying that they will call the police. Juanillo says that the police did come by later, and that they drove away after recognising him as a resident of the area.
Alexander has since apologised for her actions, admitting that she should have “minded her own business”.
"When I watch the video I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did,” Alexander’s statement said.
#BlackLivesMatter | Lisa Alexander says she wants to apologize directly to Mr. Juanillo: ⬇️ “The last 48 hours ha… https://t.co/EWLuAsRhhe— Luz Peña (@Luz Peña) 1592165100
Speaking to the Associated Press, Juanillo said that he’s received messages of support from other neighbours, as well as flowers.
He also has said that he doesn’t want her life to be ruined over the incident.
“Do I believe that her life should be destroyed over this? No,” says Juanillo.
“I just hope that she realises that what she did was racist and she can improve from this incident.”