A video of a female, Black news reporter from New York being sexually and racially harassed while doing her job has gone viral.
Brianna Hamblin was preparing for a live broadcast for Spectrum Local News in Rochester, New York, when a passerby tells her she is “beautiful as hell.”
After being asked why she is filming in the area, she says: “Go and find a television and watch Spectrum Local News!” she says.
“You see, that’s why I can’t be left alone with a Black woman or a mulatto chick. ‘Cause I can’t stand these f–king white girls,” he continues.
Hamblin tries to tell the man to leave politely, “alright, that’s enough, enjoy the rest of your day,” but as the man walks away, he adds, “you are sexy as f–k.”
“Being hit on and harassed as a woman, especially as a woman reporter out in the field, happens so often you learn how to roll with it or ignore it. This time it happened to be recorded only seconds before my hit. There are A LOT of things wrong with this,” Hamblin wrote on Twitter.
She adds, “The audacity of the things men say to me never ceases to amaze me. What makes you think women want to be talked to that way? In no way is this endearing. It’s uncomfortable. It’s gross.”
Unfortunately, she’s right. Many women experience harassment of this kind in the workplace. However, it’s rare that the incidents are captured on camera.
She continued: “Being a Black woman in this industry has its own headaches, but talking down on one group of women to “praise” another group is NEVER okay. It just shows you have a disgusting fetish based on stereotypes, which is just as racist.”
According to INSIDER, 97% of women have experienced street harassment, with such experiences over-represented among Black women, and female journalists.
