Lee County woman’s racist rant not a surprise for some

A Lee County woman’s hateful racist rant went viral surprising some but not all.

A video recording of a confrontation between two neighbors shows Gina Brashear’s tirade where she uses the N-word an undisclosed number of times.

The incident happened because Brashear’s driveway was blocked for a number of hours, she told WINK News.  Brashear admitted she has racist beliefs.

“Do I have a reason to be racist? Absolutely I do,” she said.

David Thomas Ph.D., a professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, said Brashear’s words were hurtful.

“Why do we even have to use those words,” Thomas said.

But while it hurts, it doesn’t surprise Thomas, who is Black. Thomas, 65, is a former police officer and a professor of criminal justice with a doctorate. He has experienced racism in many ways and the video clip of Brashear did not surprise him at all.

“You would think that in this day and age that we would be in a different place but somewhere along the lines of those last few years as Americans we seem to have lost our civility toward each other and race has become very prominent,” Thomas said.

So he and many parents and grandparents are having tough conversations.

“My granddaughter and my grandson have endured it,” he said. “The same things that happened to my daughter are the same things that are happening to them and she’s having to step up and have those exact same conversations.”

“Things aren’t as far ahead as people would like to think they are,” he added.