What should’ve been a nice morning workout class turned into a police escort out of a South Boston, Va. YMCA for 72-year-old Maria Spooner, after she refused to move seats in a dispute with staff and another lady in an exercise class. Now, Black folks online are calling for a boycott of the YMCA for racial bias and the terrible way that the YMCA staff handled the situation.
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Maria Spooner, who is a Black woman, recorded on Facebook live Monday morning (Aug. 18) as another lady, who is a white woman, sat beside her and claimed that Spooner was sitting in her spot. In the Facebook live, Spooner is asked multiple times by staff to move seats so that they can accomodate the woman who wants her spot.
While the staff explained to Spooner multiple times that seats are first-come, first-served, with the only reserved space being for the instructor, they also added that the lady they were trying to accommodate had been coming for years and always sat in the same spot, which contradicted what they had first explained.
“I don’t care if she’s been sitting here for 50 million years, I’m not moving,” Spooner responded to the YMCA staff.
By the end of the Facebook live, the instructors told Spooner they were going to call 911 and have her removed from the class for being disruptive. Spooner was then escorted out of the class by police after they explained that she could be charged for trespassing, according to WSET-TV ABC 13 News, an ABC affiliate news channel based in Virginia.
Screen recordings of the Facebook live were osted onto TikTok and has caused outrage with the Black community on the social media app who have made many calls to Boycott the YMCA.
“…White companies and white individuals who support these corporate companies committing these absolutely disgusting racist atrocities onto Black and POC individuals in the United States of America, cannot be something what we as Black people continue to support over and over again in this economy,” posted one creator.
“They called the police on an older Black woman simply and only because she did not want to give up her seat for a white woman… If you are apart of the YMCA establishment, cancel that membership, give them none of your Black dollars because they don’t want it,” posted another creator.
The South Boston, VA branch of the YMCA has since written a statement about the incident:
“We are aware of an incident that took place during an exercise class and the videos that have been shared publicly. What unfolded at that time fell short of the safe environment we strive to create. We are taking this very seriously. Our leadership team has actively engaged with the individuals directly involved, as well as with our staff to listen and learn. These conversations have been constructive, and we are grateful for their openess. Alongside this dialogue, we are reviewing our policies to strengthen safety and fairness, and we are implementing additional training for our teams to better support our community moving forward.”
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