Susan Khalaf, a woman of Jordanian descent, was just driving in Beaverton, Oregon. She did something to aggravate another driver, so he rolled his window down and shouted the slurs 'Beaner' and 'Wetback' repeatedly at her. She's no stranger to such prejudice, this not being her first encounter, misdirected as it was. She grabbed her phone and filmed the man.
"Before I was able to catch the first part of what he was saying on camera, I couldn't believe he was saying it, telling me, 'You immigrant, go back to your country," Khalaf said.
The other driver was upset because she admittedly took a little too long to react at a traffic signal, as one does periodically, and the insults were hurled. Thankfully there are consequences for such behavior, in this digital age.
The man in the video has since lost his job with Wolcott Plumbing of Troutdale, where he has worked since 2012. His employer released this statement:
"First of all, this is a very upsetting situation. Under no circumstances do I personally nor do we as a company condone the use of abusive language of any kind to anyone. Last night (Jan. 5) I became aware that a video existed, potentially of one of my employees after hours, using racial slurs, while driving in his personal vehicle.
Upon further investigation today, I learned and confirmed it was one of my employees on the video.
This employee was immediately terminated."
Susan Khalaf, taking it all in stride, still has a very good disposition after this unpleasantness.
Khalaf hopes this can be a learning lesson.
"I hope that maybe one day he will change his ways. I am sorry that he lost his job, but he will learn from it and move on. I just hope people see how ugly racism is, and to just teach your children peace," Khalaf said.
Racism is unacceptable, no matter what form it rears its ugly head. This one was just plain ignorant and obnoxious. It's good for Susan, that she recorded it. Maybe this behavior will change over time when people know they can't get away with openly expressing their hateful stupidity.
