Footage of a Walmart shopper’s deeply racist rant towards a Latinx woman has gone viral after the target of the rant posted the video online on Monday.
“I never in my life thought this would happen to me. Yes me,” Eva Hicks, the woman behind the camera, wrote on Facebook. “Just on a simple trip to the grocery store after a hard day of work.”
Journalist Shaun King subsequently shared the footage on his Twitter account.
In the video, an unidentified woman is seen telling Hicks that “we don’t want you here,” as well as to “leave America.” While it is not immediately clear from the footage what precipitated the racist outburst, Hicks can be heard explaining that she simply asked the other woman to move her cart so Hicks could reach the medicine she was trying to buy from Walmart’s pharmacy aisle.
At one point in the footage, another woman off camera approaches the pair, and tells Hicks’ racist accuser to “stop being ignorant.”
“A nigger’s calling me ignorant?” the other woman retorts, before returning to her first bigoted screed.
Eventually a Walmart employee inserts himself into the tirade, calmly telling the other woman that she must leave the store, as Hicks can be heard crying in the background.
On Facebook, where the video has racked up thousands of likes and shares, Hicks wrote: “I love this country and I will stay in this country.”
I have reached out to Hicks for further details on the incident, and will update this story with her response.
Update, 5:35 PM: Walmart confirmed to me that the incident took place in Centerton, AR.
“We value and respect everyone who visits our stores,” the company wrote in a statement emailed to Fusion. “We have no tolerance for the language or actions of this customer and are proud that our assistant manager responded appropriately by asking her to leave the store.”
On the phone, a company spokesperson added that while the woman featured in the video has not been identified, she will be asked to shop elsewhere should she return to that Walmart.