Sunny Red Bear - Whitcombe is an Indigenous activist, advocate, model, healer, writer and doula. She has about 40 thousand followers on Instagram.
Hi, Sunny
Normally, the accomplishments of a victim don't really matter, but in this case they illustrate just how much this particular racist Karen picked "the wrong one" when she chose Red Bear and her companion to aim her tirade at.
Things started at the bar of Murphy's Pub and Grill in Rapid City, South Dakota. Red Bear and her companion, Chynna Lockett, were seated at the bar with their drinks waiting on their order.
Further down the bar was another group of guests.
At some point, a blonde woman from that second group of guests began to accost Red Bear and Lockett with racist insults. It wasn't just one or two insults, the woman hurled ongoing harassment.
Red Bear took out her phone and began filming the woman.
The woman repeatedly invades Red Bear's space while not wearing a mask, flinging racist insults, calling the pair ugly, and telling them to go back to the reservation. A man attempts to hold her back at a few points throughout the clip.
The video features a bit of inappropriate language and a heaping helping of racism.
Red Bear posted the video to highlight the sort of harassment experienced by Indigenous people around the world. The fact she was already a popular figure helped launch the posts shares—unfortunately for the Karen in question.
It didn't take long for her to be identified as Brooke Scott.
Scott has been defiant about the situation on social media, claiming she is the victim. She released a Facebook statement saying the video was edited to make her appear to be racist when she is not.
She also claims to have been threatened but then apologizes.
That post was followed up a few posts later by a heavily cropped picture of court documents with the caption "here at the court house going to handle this manner [matter] accordingly," though the post does not mention this incident directly. It remains unclear if Scott is taking legal action against the women or establishment, but the post does seem to insinuate that.
Scott also publicly shared several self-assuring posts.
She topped that off by changing her profile picture to a butterfly with the text "Be kind even to the unkind ones. Thorns and petals are not the same."
Red Bear and Lockett have used the increased social media visibility in a very different way.
The pair made a video briefly going over the incident, assuring followers they are fine, and explaining this sort of thing happens to Indigenous people often—and it needs to stop. They then spent the rest of the video talking about how they enact change and their favorite Indigenous charity, Camp Mniluzahan.
The organization works to provide shelter, food, protection and supplies to "unsheltered relatives" along Rapid Creek.
Consequences came quickly for Scott who has been banned from the pub.
Staff is slated to undergo more training to better prepare them for future incidents with racism. Scott was attending Paul Mitchell school for hairdressing at the time of the incident.
Paul Mitchell school appears to have cut ties with her.
Meanwhile, you can help Camp Mniluzahan here.
You can learn more about Sunny Red Bear on her writer's page here.
