The recent uptick in racism and racial profiling stories shared by African Americans is enough to make people ready to scream. Apparently, a new incident shows that just asking questions is grounds for being called racist slurs.

An interracial couple who recently visited a Virginia hotel were met with hate when a clerk verbally assaulted them for requesting different room accommodations. The clerk at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson in Newport News, Virginia started going in on the husband Irby Fogleman, referring to the man as a “f**king monkey” in the videotaped incident that Fogleman shared online. The employee also told him to “get your family and get out” during a crazy rant.

The husband had informed staff that one of the hotel rooms smelled like smoke, his wife Kelsey Cunningham told ABC News.

Fogleman and Cunningham later learned that the hotel clerk was fired and the couple received a refund, but the damage was already done. This “lodging while Black” experience shows that people of color who defend themselves and have the right to do so are treated in discriminatory ways. Why, oh why?

Virginia hotel worker fired after video surfaced showing that he called a black customer a "monkey." https://t.co/7vLjOg2Re8 pic.twitter.com/JOlZik3SV8 — ABC News (@ABC) May 10, 2018

It’s crazy that this couple had to go through this racist experience, especially considering that many people of color have reported similar incidents in recent weeks. When experiences like this happen to people, several turn to social media for support. The couple received an “outpouring” of supportive comments on Facebook, Cunningham said.

As far as the hotel, employees will be retrained on code-of-conduct policies, Lisa Little, the hotel’s general manager, said in a statement. This retraining—taking a cue from Starbucks after two Black men had the cops called on them for sitting while Black at a coffee chain location in Philadelphia last month—is a step. However, many more must be taken.

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