Two Black University of Mississippi freshmen say they were devastated after a doorbell camera captured three white female students making racist monkey noises and gestures outside their apartment.
Jakiyra Metcalf and her roommate, Victoria Johnson, told CBS Mornings that they immediately went outside to confront the students after seeing the footage earlier this month.
According to the roommates, only Alaina Kunes apologized. Kunes has since left the University of Mississippi following the incident.
The second woman shown making monkey gestures in the viral video allegedly refused to stop, the students said.
“She continued to make the gestures after the girl was apologizing. It was like a slap in the face,” Metcalf told CBS Mornings.
Metcalf said she told the second woman, who they know from living in the apartment complex, that she should not go around acting like that because itâs âvery disrespectful.â
Kunes, who issued a public apology for her conduct, told the roommates they âdid that to like four doors,â Metcalf said, while stressing that she feels they were the only residence targeted.
Kunes, an 18-year-old Wisconsin native, said she decided to drop out after her family had begun receiving death threats.
âBefore the incident on November 6, I never met the women involved and was unaware of their race, however, I recognize my actions were insensitive, inappropriate, and deeply harmful,” Kunes said in a statement through an attorney.
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“I would have never intentionally made those noises or gestures toward a person of color.”
âI have apologized to the women and I pray they will forgive me. I can never truly understand the pain I have caused them and it was never my intention.”
The clip, timestamped Nov. 6 at approximately 8:37 p.m., showed two women walking up to the apartment door â with the first, Kunes, beating her chest and making monkey sounds.
A second woman made the same sound toward the camera, while a third walked past.
Kunes is the only one out of the trio that has publicly confirmed her involvement. The other two have yet to be publicly identified.
Shawnboda Mead, the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Mississippi, said the âdeeply troubling, hurtful, and unacceptable” incident is being actively investigated.
She said the behavior âdoes not reflect our universityâs values or the kind of community we strive to be every day.â