A video that went viral on Dec. 25, 2018 shows a Black man being confronted in the lobby of his New York apartment building while he waited for a Lyft.
The video was posted by Chika, 29, a social media producer for Bleacher Report. In it, a man who says he is a longtime resident of the Upper East Side building asks what Chika is doing there and tells him he does not live in the building. The man says he has lived there for 27 years and has never seen him before. The man has been nicknamed “Hallway Harry” online and had not been publicly identified by name at the time of this post.
Chika told The New York Times that he has lived in the four story walk up near First Avenue and East 74th Street since last year in a sublet. He also told the Times that the confrontation started before he began recording, when the man questioned who he and his friend were.
In the video, the man denies that race played a role and says he asks white people the same question. He keeps asking Chika which apartment he lives in, and Chika replies that the man does not need to worry about it.
Chika told the Times he felt insulted and violated, and that the encounter made him feel he was being treated as a threat. He said he does not plan to take legal action, but wants an apology. He reported the incident to the building manager, who told him she could not address personal matters, according to the Times.
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