A South Carolina man unleashed a lengthy racist, profanity-filled tirade after a grocery store clerk refused to sell him alcohol. In a video posted to social media he can be seen yelling, “all lives [expletive] matter, Black lives don’t [expletive] matter.”
News reports identify him as 27-year-old John Walter Miles. He was shopping on April 9 with his girlfriend, who repeatedly tried to push him out the door.
“Black Lives Matter is the most racist [expletive] thing we’ve ever [expletive] seen,” he says at one point. “All of you Black [expletive] are [expletive] racist [expletive].”
WBTV reports “Miles has been charged with aggravated breach of peace and trespassing. He has been booked at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center.”
News reports describe it as a “a racially motivated incident,” but that does not capture the gravity of his words.
“Miles reportedly told officers on scene that he used racial slurs, and officers asked him to leave the premise per the business’s request, according to the incident report,” The Sumter Item reports. “He reportedly refused to leave with his girlfriend and her mother until officers eventually escorted him off the property.”
“Officers claimed Miles was under the influence of alcohol in the incident report.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a drill sergeant leader at the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Association, a position the professional social media platform says he has held since December 2018. The academy, located at Fort Jackson in Columbia, posted on social media on April 14 to say they are aware of “the video” and that it “has our full attention.”
Warning: this video contains profanity, racist language, hate speech, and is disturbing: