Black Postmates Driver Speaks Out After Being Harassed On The Job

LOS ANGELES, CA — Jordan Gipson was trying to do his job when he walked up to a Westwood apartment complex recently, Postmates order in hand. When he got to the entrance, however, a woman stopped him and refused to let him enter. Accusing him of being suspicious for wearing a face covering, she told him “I don’t want you here at all.”

The woman launched into a profane tirade, and video of the encounter has since gone viral. Gipson remained calm throughout, earning him an outpouring of support from the community while the woman in the video was widely denounced on social media as another viral Karen, a racist white woman attempting to wield her privilege. But Gipson quickly saw how the situation could go left, fearing she might call the police or otherwise escalate the situation.

“She was just standing in front of the door, and I couldn’t get into the apartment,” he said. “She started accusing me of being a thief, and all types of things, and then I started recording. I was only there for less than two minutes before I started recording.”

Fearing the situation might escalate, Gipson pulled out his phone and started recording. Video footage shows the mask-less white woman shouting a stream of profanities at the delivery driver, refusing to keep her distance as he politely asks her to step back from him.

“It’s the first time I ran into something like this,” he said. “I’ve had other moments, things like the restaurant got me the order slower than other people, specifically Beverly Hills.”

In the video, Gipson tries to call the customer over the intercom for assistance, but the woman interrupts and demands to know who was inside. When the recipient asks who he’s talking to, she replies, “I live here, a******, and I pay rent here.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video contains graphic language.

In the immediate aftermath, Gipson said he didn’t think too much of the incident. Still, people rushed to commend his demeanor while denouncing the woman’s actions, and their support struck a chord with him.

“I don’t mind standing up against things like that as you can see in the video,” he said. “I figured I could use whatever help I could get so I could spend more time being a part of this conversation, and have my own platform.”

“My main message for white people is instead of giving your two cents on what you think the problem is, listen to those around you,” he continued. “And then give your two cents. A lot of the time, people like to deny, like with this occasion. People are trying to say she’s mentally ill, but she wouldn’t have done that to a white person. I’m fairly certain of it. And it doesn’t merit what she did.”

Gipson also shared some words for people of color who find themselves in similar situations.

“I’d say patience and resilience is key,” he said. “If I had gotten mad in the video, a lot of people told me to punch her — it wouldn’t have made anything better. I would have ended up in jail, and the video probably still would have went viral, just with a more sour ending. Just understanding resilience is power. Even though it feels hard in those moments, understand that’s what we’re fighting for.”

A full-time student, Gipson said he plans to keep working for Postmates. Currently, he juggles three jobs and had taken on additional Postmates work to support his mother who recently sprained her ankle.