Now that the year is coming to an end, we can only hope that 2019 brings about fewer instances such as the wrongful arrest at a Starbucks in Philadelphia and the unfortunate BBQ Becky. Unfortunately, another example of disturbing racial profiling has happened and this time it was to Bleacher Report producer Chika Okafor when he encountered "Hallway Harry" in his New York City apartment building.
Chika and his friend were waiting in the lobby of his apartment before their Lyft arrived (per usual) when a man encountered them asking who they were and if they lived in the building. Chika described how the man "interrogated" him about where he lived despite the fact that Chika called the building home "since mid-December of last year."
“What are you doing in my building? You don’t live here,” the man said, as seen in the clip below. “I’ve never seen you before. I’ve lived here 27 years.”
“He thought that he was entitled to know who I was and where I lived simply because, according to him, he lived there for 27 years,” Chika wrote on Facebook. “The arrogance is appalling but honestly, not surprising because far too many times people of color have been victims of this kind of behavior.”