An Uber customer in Las Vegas is claiming she was denied a ride home from the grocery store simply because she was black.
According to 8 News Now, Taniesha Travis, who had been shopping at the Smith’s Food and Drug chain, called an Uber to pick her up but didn’t even make it into the car before facing racial discrimination. Travis claims that once her request went through on the ride-sharing app, the driver texted her saying, “Great. another. N***a from Smith’s buying groceries for 6 kids. F***k off N***a.”
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After sending that hate-filled message, the driver, only identified as “Mike,” then canceled the ride.
Not surprisingly Travis is shaken up by how the driver so blatantly racially profiled her. “I don’t even have a picture on the app. So, he’s basically just profiling by the name,” she explained.
Sunday evening, Andrew Hasbun, a senior communications associate at Uber, confirmed the claim and issued a statement.
“This is beyond offensive and has no place in society. The driver has been removed from the app,” Hasbun said.
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Travis hopes that what happened to her will empower others to not stay silent.
“Unfortunately some people are naive that stuff like this does happen,” she said. “Speak up if anything like this happens to anybody else.”
This is not the first time the ridesharing app has grappled with claims of allowing racist abuse both on the streets and within their ranks. In July of this year, Liane Hornsey, Uber’s head of human resources, abruptly resigned after an investigation into her conduct.
According to Reuters, an anonymous group of Uber employees of color charged that Hornsey and Uber’s human resources department ignored complaints about racist behavior at the company.
It was also alleged that Hornsey used discriminatory language and made derogatory comments about Uber’s former chief brand officer, Bozoma Saint John — who now leads marketing at Los Angeles entertainment conglomerate Endeavor — as well as the company’s global head of diversity and inclusion, Bernard Coleman, who is also African-American.
The company has since assured customers and it’s employees that its community guidelines outline a zero tolerance policy for all discriminations.
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