An Oregon woman’s life has been thrown upside down after a video surfaced of her making disparaging, racist remarks to a woman who filmed her.
Selina Cairel posted to Facebook her encounter with a woman who she claims was being racist in the car next to her. She says “after wasting my breath trying to knock some sense into her I just let her speak. It started when she had said in the most demeaning poor excuse of a supposed “Asian” accent that “She’s Asian, she can’t see that’s why she can’t drive.” I was parked next to her and i did not instigate this at all.”
At that point, Selina, who is Asian, started filming. That’s when the woman in the car began talking about immigration status.
This took place outside of Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, so the closet border…is Canadian. Selina’s video went viral on Facebook and as of this recording has over 1.4 million views.
And when that happens, you know the internet doesn’t waste much time identifying the person.
Her name is Sierra Dawn Measelle, and she’s since suspended her Facebook and Instagram accounts to avoid online abuse. @OsccBreezy1 on Twitter said she worked at the Stars Cabaret, a strip club in Bridgeport. However, the Stars Cabaret posted on Facebook: “We would like to publicly address due to the calls & messages coming through, that we do not have a staff member or entertainer by the name of Sierra at our establishment.”
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Though they would not specify whether she had never worked there or whether she no longer worked there. The owner of that club did talk to KOIN though, and confirmed that Sierra used to work there but hadn’t in at least six months.
Strip club Casa Diablo had also been named as a potential employer of Sierra’s, but they wrote: “We’ve gotten several phone calls and Facebook posts tonight at Casa Diablo regarding Sierra Dawn Measelle. For the record, she has never worked at Casa Diablo before nor will she ever work at Casa Diablo in the future.”
Although, honestly, what does it matter if she worked as a stripper? Let’s not cross the line from exposing racism to stripper-shaming.
People online are also sharing public records of Sierra’s misdemeanor charges, which include drug possession and disorderly conduct. KOIN also talked to Sierra’s mother, who says that she’s sorry and realized she made a big mistake. Police have been keeping an eye on Sierra’s home after she received threats and her address was posted online.
And this is a big problem in the public shaming cycle.
Outing someone as racist and exposing their inappropriate public behavior is one thing. But keeping up a schedule of harassment and public threats brings the outraged down to a level that they shouldn’t want to be a part of.
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Even Selina posted to Facebook: “Please stop with sharing her address and the horrible threats, she’s an ignorant bigot but she doesn’t need her life to be threatened. Thank you guys!”
Though Selina did later remove that post.
Several people online are also calling out Sierra’s friend who didn’t act to put a stop to the racist comments, though the friend has so far eluded identification and public shaming.
What do you guys think? Does public shaming and outrage go to far? Or does Sierra deserve everything she’s now getting. Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
