A San Francisco man used chalk to write "Black Lives Matter" in front of his house, drawing the suspicion of a passing white couple who demanded to know if he lived there before apologizing Sunday.
The incident unfolded in the city's tony Pacific Heights neighborhood last week when James Juanillo said he was moved to support protesters demanding action against police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
"I decided that I was going to stencil a message of solidarity to my people of color, because I'm Filipino-American," Juanillo told NBC News. "I decided to stencil 'Black Lives Matter' on our retaining wall in front of our house."
Juanillo said he has lived in that Gough Street home, which he shares with his husband and five friends, since 2002.
"We are a family," he said. "I'm a real resident who knows my neighbors."
Juanillo's chalk work drew the attention of Lisa Alexander, CEO of LaFace Skincare, and her husband and they strolled through the neighborhood.
"As soon as I finish the 'R' in 'Matter,' Lisa pops up," he said.
Juanillo, 50, videotaped them asking if he was the homeowner. He posted the footage to social media and by Monday morning, it'd been viewed more than 15.5 million times on Twitter.
"This is not the way to do it," Alexander said in the video. "It's private property."
When Juanillo said he wasn't breaking any laws, Alexander responded: "Yes you are, actually."
Juanillo told the couple they could call the police if they thought he was breaking a law, and Alexander said they would.
"And that, people, is why black lives matter. That's 'Karen' and she's calling the cops," Juanillo said in his video, using internet shorthand for a white woman calling police to report a person of color doing an otherwise innocuous activity.
The famously liberal San Francisco Bay Area has seen its share of incidents similar to Juanillo's.
A white woman, later dubbed "BBQ Becky," called 911 two years ago after spotting men using a BBQ grill at Oakland's Lake Merritt. Months later, a woman, later called "Permit Patty," called police on an 8-year-old Black girl who was selling water bottles in San Francisco.
"She should know in this environment," Juanillo said, "that a white person like her of privilege calling the cops on a person of color for a perceived crime could result in death."
Alexander on Sunday apologized.
“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," Alexander said in a statement. “I should have minded my own business.”
The viral video has already cost Alexander. Birchbox, which distributes beauty products via a subscription service, said over the weekend that it has cut ties with Alexander over her “racist actions.”
“When I watch the video I am shocked and sad that I behaved the way I did,” Alexander said in the statement.
Juanillo said the couple was wrong and that Alexander "never operated in good faith."
"Even if I was a random chalk artist just drawing chalk on this wall, that’s not a crime," he said. "That’s not vandalism, that’s not defacing property. Even if I didn’t live here they shouldn’t have stopped me."
Mohammed Syed and Associated Press contributed.
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