SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A woman living in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco threatened to call the police on an Asian man painting his retaining wall. Lisa Alexander threatened to call police on James Juanillo, who is Filipino. Alexander didn’t believe Juanillo lived in the neighborhood as he was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on the wall in front of his home.
Police arrived and knew Juanillo and left, realizing he is a longtime resident of the community.
“There are not enough words to describe how truly sorry I am for being disrespectful to him last Tuesday when I made the decision to question him about what he was doing in front of his home. I should have minded my own business,” she said after learning she was wrong. “When I watch the video I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did.”
As for Alexander, she’s the CEO of a cosmetic company, LeFace Skincare. Her video has gone viral around the country with nearly 10 million views. As of today, the website for the company and its related social media pages have been taken down.
A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stencilling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retaining wall. “Karen” lies and says she knows that I don’t live in my own house, because she knows the person who lives here. #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/rOpHvKVwgP
— James Juanillo (@jaimetoons) June 12, 2020