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Racist Man Who Followed A Black Guy Home To Call Him A ‘N—-r’ Has His Business Destroyed

In one of the many incidents of racism captured on camera in the year of our lord 2018, a man who owns a heating and air-conditioning company in Columbus, Ohio followed a black man home and shouted racist epithets at him. He wasn’t very apologetic when the local news caught up to him, but now that his business is suffering, he’s changed his tune.

Last Tuesday, a Columbus, Ohio man named Jeffery Whitman followed a black man two miles back to his house and proceeded to call him a ‘n—-r’ repeatedly:

The incident was the result of Whitman deciding it was up to him to punish Ohio resident Charles Lovett for an alleged traffic violation.

Local news caught up with Whitman and asked him if he regretted following the man home and hurling racial slurs at him. He claimed he didn’t follow him home (guess it was just a coincidence that he found himself two miles away at Lovett’s house) and refused to apologize for his racist language.

“I don’t know if it makes it right or wrong all I can say is I grew up with it and not a big deal for me,” Whitman said at the time.

But now, Whitman’s changed his tune. After the incident, Whitman’s businesses’s Yelp reviews were besieged by people disgusted with his racist, threatening behavior.

“Your type is not wanted in this country any longer, nor are your ‘heating and cooling services’ ever needed again,” one such post reads.

Whitman called Columbus Dispatch reporter Theodore Decker and left a voicemail expressing his regret now that his business is taking a hit.

“It was an awful mistake and obviously I don’t know how to explain it, and it’s ruined my life and it’s ruined my family’s life,” Whitman said. “I’m out of business, I’m completely out, I’m done, I’ll never work in Columbus again,” he continued. “This has completely and thoroughly ruined my life.”

Then, according to Decker, Whitman called again a day later:

He said he chose the wrong word and insists he is not a bigot. He provided a woman’s number and urged me to call her. He wouldn’t say why exactly, but I get the sense that he sees her as a character witness.

He rambled a bit and said a few other things, including one sentiment that would have many of his newfound enemies guffawing:

“I just don’t understand the intensity of the hate,” he said.

He said that even his 86-year-old mother and his 25-year-old daughter, who uses a wheelchair, have become targets of the harassment campaign against him.

“I was just trying to address the rudeness,” he said by way of explanation. The way he said this suggests that he saw Tuesday’s encounter on Morse Road as the straw that broke his back.

The line abruptly disconnected.

I called the woman as he asked and left a message. She didn’t call back.

Ouch. It’s too bad Whitman had to find out the hard way about “the intensity of the hate” people have for racism and those who wield it to punish people of color for minor traffic violations.

h/t: Columbus Dispatch