I’m sure we’ve all seen or heard of GIFs. Those short video clips are popular among social media users. There are infinite possibilities for how they can be used since they can convey almost any emotion, even a hateful one.
Enter the [few] white employees at the Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Healthcare facility in Virginia, who used the GIF tool to be as racist as possible during a Teams meeting, according to WAVY.
We’ve all used the Microsoft Outlook tool, right? It’s a favorite among companies across the country. It allows employees to communicate with each other virtually. Whether that’s through messages or video calls. The software also allows employees to send GIFs during these virtual meetings.
In the case of Veneeca Neal, a Black woman, she claims that during a Teams meeting that included seven Black employees and two White employees, the two white employees had the gall to share the racist GIF with everyone in the meeting.
More from WAVY:
“When we [the Black employees] looked at it, it was a video clip of some black chimpanzees sitting in a car and it was saying ‘crazy as a Jeep full of chimps’.” It [the software system] dinged again and the response to that was Ernie [Muppets character from Sesame Street] throwing his thumbs up.
Neal said the White employee who sent the Ernie GIF offered an explanation.
“She was like ‘that wasn’t supposed to go to y’all.’”
No shit. Too bad they’re not smart enough to keep their racist thoughts to themselves.
In the time since, Neal says the work environment for her and her Black colleagues has only gotten worse, telling WAVY, “I need to talk to the news and let this be known because I fear for my safety and my co-workers’ safety.”