The woman who went viral after not letting a black man into the apartment complex where they both lived is defending her actions. Hilary Thornton sat down for an interview with Fox 2 News and said she’s not racist. In fact, she says she’s still legally married to an African-American man.
“When I noticed an individual that I did not know here, my only thought was to follow directions I had been given by condo association board members repeatedly; and that’s to never allow access to anyone that you don’t know,” she said. “I simply asked if he lived there because the direction from the association is … that if you don’t know the person, you don’t let them in.”
She said she simply asked to see his key fob because “it’s the only indicator any resident has that they live in the building and he wouldn’t answer me.”
Thornton went on to say that she’s received death threats and has been called a racist since the video went viral. “That’s false and heartbreaking,” she shared along with revealing that her husband is a black man. “Those are words that cut deep.”
As we previously reported, the incident took place last week in St. Louis. The woman said she wanted to see proof that 24-year-old D’Arreion Nuriyah Toles was a resident before allowing him in the luxury apartment building. In the viral video, you can hear the Thornton repeatedly asking Toles if he lived there, and after he finally walked past her, she followed him into the elevator and all the way to his front door.
Toles shared the footage on Facebook and said he never thought something like that would happen to him.
“To Be A Black man in America, & Come home, Women tries to stop me from coming into my building because she feels insecure, Downtown St. Louis luxury loft, because she don’t feel that I belong,” he posted. “Never really thought this would happen to me, but it did! Then 30 mins later police knock on my door, because she called! I was shocked this is America in 2018!”
As a result, the woman was fired from her job, a property management company named Tribeca-STL. They said the interaction was “disturbing” and their company doesn’t “stand for racism or racial profiling.”
“The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds,” read a statement on the company’s website. “We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company.”
When asked if she would change anything about the situation, Thornton said she would not change one thing about her actions.
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