A Property Manager Was Fired For Calling The Cops On A Black Man For Wearing Socks In The Pool

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Buzzfeed

Camry Porter, a resident of the Riverset Apartments complex in Memphis, Tennessee, posted a video of the July 4th incident on Facebook.

Porter, who goes by Kam on the social media platform, said she was at her building's pool with her boyfriend and two godchildren. Her boyfriend was sitting at the pool's edge, watching the children in the water, with his feet dangling in the water while wearing socks.

A woman, whom Porter said she'd noticed "constantly watching us and whispering amongst her friends" from the time they arrived at the pool, approached them. The property manager, who Porter said was named Erica Walker, told them that socks, hats, and t-shirts were not permitted in the water. She told them she's the property manager and Porter's boyfriend had to take his socks off.

... soon a police officer showed up. Porter said Walker accused her of "disturb[ing] the peace" by recording their interaction.
In the video of the police encounter, the officer appeared to defuse the situation and not take any further action so "everybody's 4th of July is not ruined."

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/apartment-manager-fired-called-police-pool-socks-black?bfsplash&utm_term=.dybM5L4yGn#.ikd0kMoDqz

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In a Facebook post on Friday, Riverset Apartments said "Ms. Walker was terminated immediately" after they investigated the incident, and that they "do not support discrimination of any kind."

[Scurrilous]

1. Behold the emboldened racist:

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Now thankfully unemployed.

[Takket]

3. look at the smug smirk

she's enjoying every second of this...............

wearing sox in the pool... while black

[mainer]

17. There seems to be a "type." Blonde, overweight, and superior.

That "type" seems to crop up again and again among those making these calls.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. I'd noticed the same thing re the pattern of overweight women. The superior

attitude goes without saying, though 'arrogant' is more like it.

As for hair-colour thiough, there seem to be more blondes in Edinburgh than in Scandinavia, so I wouldn't set too much store on that. One day, perhapos, you'll have an offence as we do, in the UK, of wasting police time. As for the artificial fibre thing, I think it might take a couple more ice-ages before a filter got clogged up by them.

[SharonClark]

50. Having a little sexism with your outrage?

[Joe Chi Minh]

59. Simple observation. There is only so much you can fantasize into your own personal

reality.

[JustAnotherGen]

53. Someone down thread called her the

Pool Nazi.

That evokes a lot without getting slammed for telling the truth.

[SharonClark]

51. You might want a post of picture of yourself so we can see if you are

not ugly, not fat, and not white, and 10 years old.

The sexism runs deep on DU.

[juxtaposed]

52. you my want to edit your post

[nwduke]

2. The new age of trump

Racism is now okay! This sucks!

[AllaN01Bear]

4. always been ok hidden but there and many times this blatent but because

of dear leader its now acceptable. hem

[dalton99a]

41. What better role model than the President of the United States?

[Bettie]

5. This is an entirely wrong reason to call cops

but I have to admit, I'd have asked them what's up with wearing socks in the pool.

I've never seen anyone do that, white, black, or otherwise.

[heaven05]

19. really?

ok

[Bettie]

29. I ask people about things I don't understand

and I usually get an answer. I'm polite and friendly, but sometimes humans do things that confuse me, so I ask.

No harm in asking.

[heaven05]

36. No harm to ask

the foul comes when missy or massa don't get compliance or are ignored from and by those insolent, uppity, pesky brown people, I think.

[Bettie]

40. Exactly, I ask about things I find unsual

odd or whatever.

If the person says "yeah, I don't want to discuss it" I leave it, but usually they'll tell me why they do the thing.

[Bob Loblaw]

38. Except that it's none of your business or theirs

Maybe he's got tattoos on his feet from his youth that he now regrets that say "F**k Whitey" and he doesn't want to offend anyone. Maybe he's got some really nasty looking toenails that drug manufacturers' marketing people have convinced him he should be ashamed of. Maybe he's missing a few toes and he knows that makes people uncomfortable. Why is it anyone's business other than his own that he's decided to leave his feet covered in the pool?

[Demsrule86]

30. But the hats were ok right? And the tshirts as well...the manager was fired so I would consider

carefully how one addresses such an issue...every person who has engaged in this sort of what I consider racist behavior has lost their jobs...good riddance. The tolerance level for POC is way lower than for white people...the video showed that some were partying with what appeared to be alcohol...a clear and serious violation of the rules. This was also ignored. There are video of this incident.

[Bettie]

33. No, the rules should be enforced on everyone or no one

I'm just saying that I, personally, would ask someone (anyone) wearing socks in a pool why. It's just unusual enough that I'd ask.

It has nothing to do with the cops or the rules, just curiosity at what seems to me to be an odd behavior.

[Demsrule86]

34. He wasn't swimming first of all and she didn't just ask...and I saw all sorts of get ups in the

water when I viewed the video... I disagree completely. The racist like this woman use the rules to torment POC and it needs to stop...firing her was a good move.

[Bettie]

35. Firing her was absolutely the right thing to do

maybe if enough people get fired for being racist assholes they'll stop doing it.

[Demsrule86]

45. I agree...good for the apartment complex.

[Bettie]

48. And just good to remind people

that there are still acceptable standards of behavior, no matter how some of our government officials would suggest otherwise.

Not that those who truly need that message will ever understand it.

[Demsrule86]

49. Very true. I am sure the woman involved is shocked that she was fired over

the treatment of a POC. Trump says it is OK...probably waiting for his promised funds to defend herself...she is one of the 'good people' like in Charlottesville (sarcasm).

[iluvtennis]

6. This shit is going to far...people being profiled simply because they are black, brown, muslim, gay,

etc. What a sad state of affairs that has created under Trump. Sickening

[riversedge]

56. I have noticed it is a lot women who are doing the calling (of police). I am not

keeping tabs but seems most are women-

[iluvtennis]

57. Yep. Women. The old stereotype of clutching their pocketbooks if a

Black man was walking by on the streets oe entered an elevator. Now with Trump
They can be explicit and say shit like they did in the Jim Crow times

[dalton99a]

7. Earth to deplorables: Stop acting like a racist asshole in public - your employer might not like it.

[Gore1FL]

8. This is weird on so many levels.

Who cares if someone is wearing socks in in a pool.
Who wears socks in a pool?

[RhodeIslandOne]

9. I would think the fiber from socks could mess up the filtration system over time.

Same with t-shirts and regular pants and shorts, if everyone gets away with it.

Just tell them not to do it. Pretty simple.

[pnwmom]

10. And that would be true. Any fiber that sheds could be a problem.

The issue, though, was the the manager was only enforcing the rule against the black couple.

From the OP article:

Porter told BuzzFeed News she didn't have a problem with Walker asking her boyfriend to take his socks off, but the fact that the rule was not enforced for others at the pool hurt and made her feel like she was being discriminated against.

"She said nothing to the other people that [were] not in proper pool attire but chose to say something only to us, the only black family out there," Porter said in the video.

When Porter asked her for identification that she was indeed the property manager, she said Walker told her, "I’m not about to go back and forward with you. You all need to leave.”

[Demsrule86]

31. It doesn't mess up the filter at all. This woman is what we call a pool Nazi...and she doesn't

like people of color.

[RhodeIslandOne]

42. "They don't mess up the filter at all"

Is that the truth or are you just policing discussion?

A poster asked why that might be a rule and as someone who was once told I can’t wear a T-shirt in a particular pool once I was attempting to answer the possibility because for some reason a lot of pools have these dress codes about extemporaneous clothing.

[xor]

11. Not sure why she would care... I also wondered the same thing about wearing socks

but then after a little bit of thought, I realized as a kid I used to wear a t-shirt in the pool because I was self-conscious about taking my shirt off. So perhaps the guy in question has some problems with his feet that make him self-conscious...or maybe he just likes the feeling of wet socks (weird, but whatever) Either way, I fail to see the actual harm that could be had by wearing socks in the pool.

This is just mean bullying and perhaps racially motivated behavior. She's gone from her position as a property manager there. So, maybe she learned not to be a hateful and awful person.

[heaven05]

20. someone afraid

of athletes foot? Don't like sandals? A sore foot, muscle or bone? Hell I don't know but, guaranteed in THIS situation, a white person, more than likely, would get a pass with some quietly laughing at an 'eccentricity'. Once these becky's have to start paying financial remuneration to the local police forces for these nuisance calls, they will drop off, I think.

[mwooldri]

43. Swim socks?

They are a thing. Our local water park actually recommends them to be worn in the big wave pool.

Too many kids wore a rubber sock at the swimming pool when I was a kid. Supposedly they had verrucas or something similar.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. He probably should have been arrested.

But by the fashion police. Socks in the pool? NO.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Appropriate response by cop

to be commended. Police do have discretionary powers, and training, and are supposed to use sound judgment. I keep hoping the worst is behind us, that reason and reasonableness will assert itself. I really do hope we are there.

[Trust Buster]

14. I wouldn't want to swim in a pool that people with socks regularly swim in.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. You'd call the police ? If you feel

so strongly about the 'danger' of socks in a communal swimming pool, and you were the property manager, don't you think that a courteous request should at least be your first recourse, with a brief explanation of your reason ?

[Trust Buster]

16. The OP states that the request was made and ignored.

[heaven05]

21. really

ok feet are just as dirty. but go ahead call the police if it would make you feel better.

[iluvtennis]

58. Agree on the feet. My children would never be able to get in the community

Pool if their were feet inspectors.

Besides who cares, once feet / swimsuits / socks come in contact with the cholorine, its all goodness anyway

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. You have a strange idea of a polite request. Very strange. Moreover, you seem to

consider the lead up to the bigoted martinet's dictat, her watching the man and his family from the moment they appeared and evidently talking about them within a group of presumably like-minded souls*, reflected no racial hatred. Perhaps theyw ere talking about knittng and it was just a coincidence they were all looking at them at the same time.

Is it my imagination or do those pasty-faced, melanin-challenged, poorly-athletically-endowed, anti-black militia types mostly reside in the South ?

*God's judgment may not be far off, and it seems most unlikely that God will look upon blind race hatred with a merciful heart. To despise people on the basis of their colour is to despise God's sense of beauty and his workmanship. It could scarcely be more flagantly blasphemous.

[Demsrule86]

32. Good...and I am glad she was fired.

[NickB79]

22. Sock sweat is the least of your concern in a pool

You know how much armpit sweat and kiddy piss is in that water? And heaven forbid a toddler in a crap-filled swim diaper gets in.

[LanternWaste]

55. Socks, right.

It's a great excuse.

[heaven05]

18. trump encouraged and enabled

this unreasoning and ignorant hate. Yeah. Fired. Good. All these situations are showing me what I've known since my first personal run-in with a white racist in 1967 while training to protect the red, white and so blue. People like this make it plain that racism and hate of POC will ALWAYS be with US. In more or less varying intensity. During intense era's of open racist hate, we can fight, hide, deny, tune out the consequence, turn a blind eye or VOTE FOR anti-facist-anti racist Democratic Party candidates. And do our damnedest to marginalize and drive the trump white nationalists back into the toilets from whence they came.

Oh, the four that came after me so long ago? The biggest one suffered injury, one was hurt. Two others ran and were my friends for the duration of training. Not blowing my horn, just showing that violence is sometimes necessary when dealing with hateful people.

[milestogo]

24. Dangling feet in the pool while wearing socks and being black.

Its a crime in some states.

[Joe Chi Minh]

26. ... while registering a discernable pulse without expressing a scintilla of remorse.

[Mike Nelson]

27. Hmmm...

… I would wonder if the person was trying to hide a foot condition, although people wear shirts in pools... There are worse things that could be hidden under a bathing suit!

[SallyHemmings]

28. Maybe the poor guy thinks his feet aren't pretty.

The nonsense was always there but finally the racists are suffering consequences..

[panader0]

37. Maybe the concrete around the pool was hot and he wanted wet socks.

I know I've nearly burnt my feet at pools before.

[Ikeoftheprairie]

39. Bingo!!!

Exactly what I was thinking! I don't care for public pools but there is footwear specifically made for pools, hot cement, non-slip, etc. Maybe he just didn't have a pair of those and just used his socks. Lol, socks are probably way down the list of nasties that go into a public pool. At least it sounds like the police acted properly. Not sure if she should have been fired unless she has a history of this type of behavior. Some people, when they get a little bit of authority, go way overboard with it.

[Lars39]

54. I was thinking embarrassed about bad-looking toe nails.

[YOHABLO]

44. Nothing like ruining a 4th of July by calling the police for some minor infringement. Hmm.

I get the socks in the pool thing. It's kind of gross. But no wearing of hats or t-shirts? Sometimes people want to protect themselves from the sun.

[IronLionZion]

47. The ACLU opposes consequences for 911 call abuse

to avoid discouraging people from calling 911.

Good that the socks were not mistaken for a weapon.

[MineralMan]

60. She didn't call the cops over socks. She called them

because a black man didn't "respect her athouritay." And there's the problem in a nutshell. She was offended by a person of color who had his sock feet in the pool water. So, she puffed herself up to look as big as possible and ordered him not to do that. He didn't comply, so she called the police. He was in violation of the law that says that black men have to do what white women tell them to do.