She was caught on video delivering a racist rant in Oregon. Now she’s apologizing

A Beaverton, Oregon woman is apologizing after she made a racist rant against an Asian American woman in Portland was posted to Facebook — and viewed millions of times.

Selina Cairel of Vancouver, Wash., posted the video to her Facebook page on Sept. 12 as an example of the kind of behavior she has to put up with in Portland.

In the Facebook video, Cairel and a friend are inside Cairel’s car near Voodoo Doughnuts in downtown Portland. A woman and her friend are parked next to her.

Cairel said on her Facebook page that the Sept. 11 incident started when the woman, identified by KATU News as Sierra Measelle of Beaverton, told her that she can’t drive because she’s Asian.

In the video, Measelle then shouts from her car at Cairel — a 22-year-old Filipino American, according to KATU News — “might want to make sure you’re actually legals, and then call the cops.”

Cairel said on Facebook that she didn’t instigate anything.

“She was the one to pull out her phone first, saying, “This should go on Instagram” and started recording me,” Cairel wrote on her Facebook.

Cairel’s Facebook video shows Measelle pulling away from Cairel after shouting a few more things.

On her Facebook page, Cairel said, “I never let this pass and wanna make sure this kind of behavior is seen and how people of color encounter this all the time.”

She also said on her Facebook that, “I wanna make sure she gets seen and her racist, ignorant behavior is exposed.”

It soon was — the post has been shared more than 20,000 times and has more than 8,000 comments.

KOIN TV of Portland reported, without identifying Measelle, that her mother told them that she is “sorry and Measelle “realizes she made a mistake.”

KOIN reported that they did not name Measelle at the time because she did not commit a crime.

The mother also said that Measelle “is of Native American descent from a tribe in Alaska,” according to KOIN TV.

People on the internet soon figured out who Measelle was. They posted her address, called her former employer and eviscerated her online.

KATU News later reported that Measelle later apologized on her Instagram, now private, saying in a screenshotted post that, “I’m ashamed that I let my emotions get the better of me,” and “I’m extremely disappointed in myself an my lack of empathy.”

Cairel said she didn’t want Measelle to be harassed the way she has been, KATU News reported.

“I apologize for people threatening your life and families and everything,” Cairel told KATU News. “I hope she’s okay.”

In the screenshot from Measelle, she says that she’s going to “transform this negative situation into a positive learning opportunity.”

Measelle also has gained something more concrete: more followers on her Instagram.