On July 11th, the man in this video, Anthony Gibson, posted this video that got 16 million views on TikTok alone:
Anthony apparently lives in this 200-home complex. He says he's been approached repeatedly by those darn white people asking him if he lives in this gated/HOA community and that it's proof of the rampant racism he faces as a black man in America.
Of course, we don't have any context on where exactly he was fishing, or even if he is a member of the community. All we have is a puff piece on him from NBC News:
"I literally wanted people to see what people like me have to go through when they live in a nice neighborhood," Gibson told NBC News about recording the confrontations, "and people don't think that they live there."
So much journalism!
Anthony says these problems started about a year ago when he was fishing with a white friend and someone asked for his address. He refused, so they called the police.
And look: If that incident was truly racist, then that's wrong. But NBC doesn't dig into the story or the details, just this guy's testimony, which he's currently building a brand on.
Since his July 11 video went viral, Anthony (whose profession is acting) has posted 30 videos highlighting other cases where those darn white people try to talk to him.
One of them was a clip of a man who came to talk to him about the woman in the first video:
That's right, the woman in the first clip has been fired from her job and been destroyed in the media because she had the GALL to ask the man if he was a resident from a resident-only fishing area.
Shortly after the video was posted, Gibson said he learned online that Petty had been fired from her job as a massage therapist at Sea Glass Therapy, an emotional wellness center. The business's owner, Jennifer Yaeger, declined to comment to NBC News on the matter. The wellness center announced that Petty had been fired on a since-deleted social media post.
Anthony destroyed her life over what he claimed was racism.
A neighbor came to him pleading for a resolution and instead he mocked her and him.
Should I help Karen/Ms Petty get her job back?
Why would I pity or want to be associated with a vengeful, vindictive man like this?
Even if Anthony did suffer wrongful discrimination based solely on the color of his skin, I have no desire to help someone who would not only seek an eye for an eye, but the total destruction of people he deems his enemies.
I'm starting to wonder who the racist one here is...
Other Black residents have told Gibson about the harassment they've faced there. A retired Army veteran told Gibson that a bag of dog feces was left at his front door after he asked a white woman to stop letting her dog poop in his yard. On TikTok, Gibson posted other Black neighbors talking about being accosted in their own community, including one man who has lived in Springwater Plantation since 2001 and said that he's "always been messed with." In another TikTok Gibson posted, another man said that residents also questioned if he lived in the development while fishing.
Having crappy neighbors doesn't mean you have racist neighbors.
Did NBC News cross-check any of these stories?
Did they interview any of the white neighbors?
Did they interview Ms. Petty so she could clear her name?
Nope.
We just see what Anthony says we should see.
Petty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is usually code for: "We sent her an email 10 minutes before our deadline."
Instead, NBC News talks about how Anthony learned to fish, poor, helpless black man that he is, diving into his childhood and his life story. I bet he'd be on Jimmy Kimmel next week if there wasn't a writer's strike!
After his confrontation with Petty went viral, Gibson said Thomas Drolet, president of Springwater Plantation's board of directors, asked him to release another video saying the encounter had been a "misunderstanding." The reason cited by Drolet, Gibson said, was that Petty needed her job back to pay her "big mortgage."
She's going to lose her house because she asked this man if he was a resident.
Drolet said the homeowners association has two signs that identify two sections of the lakeshore as private property, but that there is "legitimate confusion" around the subdivision because people don't recognize that the area is private property and often use it for fishing or recreation.
Drolet said that on the day Petty approached Gibson, she saw two parked cars with license plates from Texas and a Georgia license plate from Clayton County, which is about 35 miles away from Springwater Plantation. Gibson told NBC News that the cars belonged to his friends who were visiting. Drolet also said Gibson refused to answer Petty's question about living in the community, which Drolet said was a "legitimate concern."
Ah! There it is, buried deep in the story!
So Petty's story is that she saw 2 license plates from out of town, one that was from out of state, right where Anthony Gibson was fishing. This was happening in an area where people regularly come to fish on private property, creating confusion and an issue within the community.
MIGHT THAT BE IMPORTANT CONTEXT, NBC???
Or what about the fact that Gibson isn't apparently aware of the areas where fishing is allowed and might have been in an off-limits area anyway???
Drolet said he also spoke with one of Gibson's family members to indicate which parts of the lake were off-limits for fishing. During the meeting, Drolet said Gibson appeared and told him that "doesn't really matter" and that that area of the lake has always been a place to fish and gaze.
AH. OKAY.
Translation: "I can do what I want."
Anthony also played the "police are evil and will shoot me" card:
In Gibson's case, he said, neighbors who confront him often resort to calling the police. He surmises that if he wasn't recording the incidents, they "could have been worse." He tries to remain calm when interacting with officers, because when "you call the police on a Black man, there's already some suspicion."
A quick story:
I was fishing the other week on a river, in a county park, when the guy who lived across the shore literally got into a tube and paddled his way 300 feet across the water to come say hi and see what I was up to.
I was a little weirded out, but sadly, I'm white, so I can't get any Oppression™ points that lands me viral videos and media pieces.
Perhaps some of what Anthony has faced is racism. I don't know everyone's heart.
