Dr. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of civil rights legend Martin Luther King Jr., is calling for a boycott of Waffle House franchises until the popular chain implements changes following a viral video showing an unarmed black man being violently arrested at a North Carolina store.
King urged her followers on Thursday to “stay out of Waffle House” after a video showing a North Carolina police officer choking and slamming a man wearing prom attire to the ground garnered thousands of views on Facebook.
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“Family, let’s stay out of @WaffleHouse until the corporate office legitimately and seriously commits to 1) discussion on racism, 2) employee training, and 3) other plans to change; and until they start to implement changes,” King tweeted.
In the video, 22-year-old Anthony Wall is slammed against a wall and then the ground. According to Wall, the incident began after Waffle House workers cursed at him and his sister, a 16-year-old whom Wall had just taken to her high school prom, for sitting in a booth that had not yet been cleaned. The employee then called the Warsaw, N.C., police officer, who initiated the physical encounter.
Warsaw Police Chief Eric Southerland told the Raleigh News and Observer that his officers are not trained to react to situations in that manner.
“It’s not what you’re trained to do in incidents like this but when you’re dealing with someone fighting and resisting against an officer, you try to use proper tactics and go for one move, but that might not work because that person is moving or the officer is moving,” Southerland said. “In real versus training situations, moves don’t always work out like you want them to.”
“This have to stop please help by share reporting to every news report u know please,” Wall wrote on Facebook.
The video has been shared more than 2,000 times.