A Black Girls Climbing club coach broke down in tears on camera as she described how two of her young black students were called the ‘n-word’ by a white woman in a Berkeley park.
In the heartbreaking video, which has gone viral on social media, Emily Taylor, the founder of the climbing club dedicated to black girls, tells how two young girls aged just 7 and 10 were subject to a shocking racist attack on Monday when they were on their first climbing trip in Indian Rock Park.
The unnamed white woman confronted the girls, telling them ‘you n**r girls need to get out of this park’, Taylor says in the footage.
She then chokes back tears as she recounts how she told the older girl that this ‘is unfortunately the things that are going to happen to us and do happen to us’ as black women and says ‘there is so much pain’ in how the innocent little girls were treated.
‘This woman walks by and says to the two black girls who are sitting down on the rock “you n***** girls need to get out of this park”,’ Taylor begins in the video.
‘The older one heard it and the younger one didn’t,’ she says.
‘And she ran over to tell me what had happened.’
Taylor breaks down as she describes how she went into a ‘protection zone’ to make sure the young girls were safe but was also faced with the heartbreaking task of admitting to the 10-year-old that these are the types of incidents that happen to black people.
‘I don’t know where I was, I don’t know where I went,’ she recalls.
‘I went into that protection zone. I went round the corner to see who she was talking about. I went to listen… to make sure Ava was safe as she was by herself and I listened again to the child who told me what had happened.
‘And I told her how much I was sorry that had happened and that it is unfortunately the things that are going to happen to us and do happen to us.’
Emily Taylor, the founder of the climbing club dedicated to black girls, tells how two young girls aged just seven and 10 were subject to a shocking racist attack when they were on their first climbing trip in Indian Rock Park
The Black Girls Climbing club coach broke down in tears on camera as she told how two of her young black students were called the ‘n-word’ by a white woman
Taylor then says how she didn’t have ‘any words’ to reassure the little girl over the horrifying incident which left the 10-year-old shocked.
‘I just went into this numbing protection zone and I listened to her and she kept saying it over and over again. And she kept saying “she called me the ‘n-word’, she kept calling me the ‘n-word’ coach”,’ she says.
Taylor says she responded saying that she ‘hear[s] how much that hurts, I know how much that hurts’ as the little girl asked if she had ever been the victim of a similar racist incident herself.
‘I was like “yes it’s happened to me a lot and I’m so sorry it’s happened to you on your first day and your first time ever rock climbing”,’ the devastated coach recalls.
Taylor told ABC Eyewitness News systematic racism meant she had to tell the girls that they will hear racist language again in their lifetimes.
‘That’s what systematic racism does to black people. It numbs us to those words to say, yeah you are going to hear that again,’ said Taylor.
‘I’m just doing this the best way I know how. Trying to build this bridge and hold these girls in place.’
Taylor pictured with a little girl who attends the climbing club. Taylor chokes back tears as she recounts how she told the older girl that this ‘is unfortunately the things that are going to happen to us and do happen to us’ as black women
The racist attack on the little girls took place at the Indian Rock park (above). The white woman has not been identified
She added that it was all the more shocking at the park where Black Lives Matter signs have been displayed at the entrance.
The racist incident was slammed by Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin who described it as ‘horrifying’ and admitted that the city has work to do.
‘It was horrifying. Berkeley is not immune sadly from the racism that exists around our country,’ he told Eyewitness News.
‘Even in a city that is so progressive and very committed to racial and social equity.’
The shocking footage has been viewed more than 12,000 times and Taylor has set up a GoFundMe to buy a van for her students.
The white woman who allegedly carried out the racist attack on the little girls has not been identified.
This marks the latest in a string of racist incidents across America as racial tensions mount following the Memorial Day ‘murder’ of black man George Floyd at the hands of white cop Derek Chauvin.
Protesters have been taking to the streets demanding an end to systemic racism and police brutality against people of color after several black men and women have been killed by cops this year.