Amber Hensley of Mapleton, North Dakota was captured on video Tuesday threatening and berating three Somali women who she claims parked their car too close to hers at Walmart.
via NYDN:
The video shows Hensley, a white woman, shout, “We’re going to kill you. We’re going to kill all of you f—ing Muslims.”
“You’re a racist person, and I am not going back to my country,” Sarah Hassan, the woman filming, says.
Hensley unleashes on the women again, saying, “Why are you in our country anyway? Why are you in our country anyway?”
“Here I am making a video and I am going to show it to police …” Hassan says. At one point, she can be heard calling Hensley “fat.”
Hassan said the altercation began when Hensley called on her to re-park her car. “She called me from the window and told me, ‘come on, fix the parking,’” Hassan told KVRR.
She said harassment like this is common in Fargo, N.D., where they live.
“Actually, this kind of discrimination happens every single day to all people here,” she told KVRR.
Hassan filmed the incident, threatening to report it to police.
“We told her we were going to record this and show it to the police,” Rowda Sowan, another woman who was with Hassan, said.
“Police won’t care,” Hensley said on camera.
Locals are calling on leaders to censure behavior like Hensley’s.
“We need leaders to condemn this issue,” Hukun Adbullahi, with the Afro American Development Association, told KVRR. “I still believe that Fargo is the place I came to three years ago. The place I felt welcomed,” he said.
Hensley alleges she became enraged after the women called her fat and said, “f–k Jesus.”
“I lost my cool,” she said in a statement to KVRR.
Hensley says she regrets her actions and wishes to apologize to the women whom she harassed.
“I would first like to apologize for the horrible things I said to the two ladies at Walmart. It was not a Christian-like thing to do at all and wish I could take it back,” she said. “I am terribly sorry.”
Hensley wishes that the whole incident had been recorded, she said.
She alleges that Hassan parked her car “way too close” to hers, preventing her from getting in her vehicle.
“When I asked her to move she refused, I asked her again and she swore at me calling me a fat b—h, to that I informed her that I was a Christian and asked her if she knew who Jesus was, she said ‘f–k Jesus’ and I lost it!” Hensley said in the statement.
“But there are absolutely no excuses. I am in tears with regret and will take any form of punishment deemed fit.”
Hensley is dealing with repercussions for her behavior.
Her employer issued a statement after the company was flooded with calls and emails regarding Hensley.
“Horab & Wentz does not agree with or support the statements expressed by Amber Hensley in the recently posted video,” it read. “Ms Hensley is no longer employed with Horab & Wentz effective immediately. “
Hensley worked as a secretary for the company.
Now Amber KNOWS those ladies did NOT call her a ‘fat b*tch’ OR say anything about ‘f*ck’ Jesus — that doesn’t even seem right. We hope this story follows her for the rest of her life.
Check out the video and firsthand account of what happened below.
Update: It looks like all is well between the ladies.
At the request of Fargo Police Chief David Todd, Amber and two of the women she verbally assaulted met at the police station and hugged it out.
via Pioneer Press:
Sarah Hassan went with her younger sister, Leyla. Rowda Soyan, the third Somali-American woman at the center of the conflict caught on camera, did not attend the meeting.
“We started talking and (Hensley) was like really, really sad, and then she told us she regrets everything she said to us,” Hassan said.
In return, Hassan said they are dropping any possible charges against Hensley.
But she’s also taking the recent resolution a step farther.
“I’m going to her place of work tomorrow. I’m going to do my best to have her get her job back,” Hassan said. Horab & Wentz, a Fargo accounting firm, said on Wednesday they would fire Hensley after fielding so many calls about the matter, saying they didn’t want the viral episode reflecting on their business.
Moreover, Hassan said she and Hensley are planning a joint celebration in September once they discovered that their birthdays are only three days apart.
“You feel good from inside,” Hassan said. “I know it went viral and everyone was talking about it, so we just want to be a good example for everybody now.”
