Patricia Carroll’s story of being assaulted at the Republican National Convention has made headlines across the country, and for the first time on Thursday, she decided to release her name and speak publicly about the incident.
The CNN camerawoman, who was assigned to cover the GOP convention, was called an animal and hit with peanuts on the convention floor. She said the two attendees who threw the nuts at her yelled, “This is how we feed animals.”
In an interview with Journal-isms, Carroll, 34, said she hates that this happened but that she’s not surprised at all. “This situation could happen to me at the Democratic convention or standing on the street corner. Racism is a global issue,” she said.
Carroll, who is originally from Alabama, said, “This is Florida, and I’m from the Deep South. You come to places like this, you can count the Black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don’t think I should do.”
Since the racist incident, Carroll said CNN has been 100 percent supportive. Anchor Wolf Blitzer addressed the issue on-air Wednesday saying, “It’s just an ugly reminder that there is an element of hatred that still exists in our country.”
Carroll also told Journal-isms there were not many other Black women at the convention.
“It doesn’t feel good but I know who I am. I’m a proud black woman. A lot of Black people are upset. This should be a wake-up call to Black people,” she said. “People think we’ve gone further than we have.”