Former basketball player calls out passenger he said was racist on train

A  retired basketball player called out a woman he said was racist when she refused him a seat, but said it was open when a white man asked to sit next to her.

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Etan Thomas made a Facebook post Friday saying he got on a train with no open seats.

"I ask this lady if I could sit next to her (very politely and I soften my voice as to not frighten her) and she says someone is sitting here," he wrote. "So I go to the next seat. Now, less than 2 mins later a man (who happens to be white) asks if he can sit there and she says why sure let me move my stuff."

Thomas said he asked the woman if she did not want him sitting next to her.

"Were you scared? Not comfortable with a Black Man sitting next to you?" Thomas wrote.

According to Thomas, the woman told him not to "pull the race card" and said he "dated a black guy in college."

Thomas said the man who sat in the seat said he would move, but Thomas told him there was no need. Instead, he took a picture to post on Facebook.

Thomas said that when the woman called the train conductor over for "illegally taking pics of ppl without their consent," the conductor recognized the former basketball player and instead of reprimanding Thomas for photographing the woman, he praised Thomas for his work in the community.

Thomas said when he asked the woman if she wanted to speak to the conductor, the woman just rolled her eyes.

Commenters praised Thomas for calling the woman out.

"I appreciate you exposing her for who she really is," Khemeka Beckford wrote.

"There is no excuse to ever be rude," Monyette Freeman Gore wrote. "Consider yourself lucky."