Colts LB Darius Leonard Got Racially Profiled And Kicked Out Of A Chipotle And Ooh Boy Is He Not Happy About It

TMZ Sports – [Colts All Pro linebacker Darius Leonard] was eating with his family Thursday — “3 other Black guys and a mixed woman” — when another patron (who is white) complained to management that Leonard was “verbally abusing him.”

Leonard says the allegation is a straight-up lie — but the restaurant manager walked over to his table and treated him like a criminal anyway … booting him from the restaurant and threatening to call the police.

Leonard says what really pisses him off is the white patron got the benefit of the doubt without a shred of evidence — and says this is the type of crap Black people have to deal with all the time.

“We’re talking about Black Lives Matter and for the guy to look at us and lie and laugh in our face as we walk out and the manger … just come up here and just basically kick us out of Chipotle?! And, we felt like he was very disrespectful and that’s the white privilege that we are talking about.”

“We are tired of this,” Leonard says … “I’m telling you what I go through as a Black man in America. Ya’ll don’t understand what I go through. Ya’ll see the police killing us. Ya’ll seeing all the injustices that we go through. I live it. Day in and day out. And, I’m f*cking tired of it. Yes, I’m upset. I’m tired of it.”

To some people out there, it may seem wild for Darius Leonard to compare a crappy experience at Chipotle (pun slightly intended) to the systemic racism and police brutality that goes on. But a lot of it comes from the same messed up part of American psychology. In the same situation, a slender white guy munching on a burrito bowl with mediocre queso who actually causes problems might not even be kicked out of a Chipotle. But when some other patrons see a dude like Darius Leonard, a 6’2 230 pound hulk of muscle with some other Black guys, they perceive some sort of threat just from his existing. You can see the anger and frustraation in Leonard’s eyes as he breaks it down in that Instagram video and you just know it’s not something uncommon for him either.

That’s the part a lot of folks out there don’t get. People have legit replied to tweets of our Bubba Wallace posts breaking down the various ways knots are tied and how a noose isn’t racist as a result. They’ve argued about the Confederate flag and the very existence of racism despite all of the evidence that exists outside of their purview. But they don’t see what it’s like to be a guy like Darius Leonard every single day. He may have millions of dollars and a career that’s better than 99% of other people who’ve tried to do what he does. And, despite that, he has to deal with getting kicked out of a fast casual restaurant just for existing because he’s in South Carolina and people may not even try to hide their racism there.

It’s the little moments like this that likely add up in a major way for guy like Darius Leonard. Paying extra for guac, being exposed to viral cases of diarrhea, those are the things you come to expect from Chipotle. But overt racism? Truly shameful. Overpriced chain food burritos should bring people together, not tear them apart. I’m Team Darius Leonard for life.