The manager of a Birmingham restaurant has been fired after being recorded using racial slurs against another employee's family, a video that sparked outrage in the community.

Antuan Pace uploaded the video to his Facebook page about 10 p.m. Wednesday and 11 hours later the video already had been viewed about 165,000 times. The incident happened at Subway on Birmingham's Valley Avenue.

This is what Pace wrote to accompany the video posting. Facebook has since removed the video: "RACIST SUBWAY MANAGER FIRES BLACK EMPLOYEE BEFORE FIRST DAY OF WORK....... (MANAGER AND HUSBAND ATTACKS EMPLOYEE'S BROTHER!!!.......)"

The two-minute video shows the reported manager- who identified herself as April - repeatedly screaming at Pace and others, telling them to get out of her store. Pace tells the manager, "You can't fire her because we aren't in the store."

The manager, while on the phone with 911, says, "I'm fixin to slap the (expletive) phone out of your hand." The video then goes dark though the confrontation can still be heard. She repeatedly asks the family members to leave the store, and Pace tells her that she was the one who invited them in."

"I called you in here to have an adult conversation with you to stay out of my store because it's not a (expletive) rest area,'' she tells Pace.

She and a man in the video repeatedly tell Pace to leave and, at some point, they do. As they were leaving, Edwards said, "Get out of my (expletive) store" and then called him a racial slur.

Pace also used profanity, telling her, "I got you on camera stupid mother (expletive). You're fired."

Pace told Birmingham activist Carlos Chaverst Jr. the incident began when his sister started her first day on the job Tuesday. Pace and their mother went to the store to see her working in a show of support and stood outside looking through the window.

The manager then invited them in the store to tell them they couldn't stand outside or be there while the young employee was on the clock.

Chaverst said the manager twice assaulted Pace - first slapping the phone out of his hand, and then physically pushing him out of the store. "This is the type of actions we are seeing across the country,'' Chaverst said. "Why are we calling the police on black folks for everything? This stuff is happening too often."

Facebook viewers' reactions were angry, and some planned to meet at the store at 10 a.m. Thursday, along with Chaverst. Only a handful showed up.

"It has been brought to our attention of a video at the Subway on Valley Avenue in Birmingham and the alleged misconduct and racist behavior that has been exhibited,'' Chaverst said in an earlier press release. "As a community we are planning to gather outside the Subway at 10 a.m. to protest peacefully the injustices we saw via video."

A spokesman issued a statement on behalf of the franchise owners of the restaurant Thursday morning.

"We are very upset that this happened and it does not reflect our core value to respect every individual. We welcome all guests to our restaurant and given the unacceptable behavior of the manager, she no longer works for us. We take this very seriously and have suspended operations until the staff has completed retraining in proper guest interaction."

A sign on the door at the Valley Avenue restaurant said it was closed for employee training. Birmingham police said no arrests were made related to the incident. The manager did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Chaverst said they are asking for sensitivity training for all Subway employees nationally.

"It is in Subway's best interest to work with our local communities and allow us to help them find ways to solve issues instead of creating them. Next, we are demanding a public apology from Subway to the victims of this incident,'' Chaverst said.

Lastly, he said they are asking Subway to give Birmingham a franchise location where they are in control of ensuring job opportunities for many of our poor residents and food options to surrounding areas.

"We've seen too many instances where Subway is shown in a negative light,'' he said. "This adds fuel to that fire. I implore the new interim CEO of Subway, Trevor Haynes, to step up and help to be a voice for our most vulnerable communities."

Pace said his sister is embarrassed and depressed over the incident and is now looking for another job. He said he is trying to help her find a job.

Pace said he was upset by the ordeal. "I feel violated,'' he said. He said he is looking in to pressing charges against the woman for the physical attacks.



