The ugliness of racism in America has reared its head once again—and this time it involves a local Georgia lawmaker.
Erica Thomas, a member of the Georgia State Legislature, recently took to social media to recount being verbally attacked while shopping. Thomas, who is currently 9 months pregnant, said that while she was standing in line with her daughter after grocery shopping a white man “verbally attacked” her and told her to “go back where you came from.”
According to @Newsweek, Thomas also stated that the man further insulted her by referring to her as a “lazy son of a b**ch.” In an emotional and tearful video, she posted to her Facebook account, Thomas went into further detail about the disgusting encounter.
Thomas explained the situation, saying:
“I decided to go live because I’m very upset because people are getting really out of control with this, with this white privilege stuff. I’m at the grocery and I’m in… the aisle that says ’10 Items or Less.’ Yes, I have 15 items, but I’m nine months pregnant and I can’t stand up for long. And this white man comes up to me and says, ‘You lazy sonofab**ch… You need to go back where you came from.’”
Thomas continued, adding that even as she attempted to explain to the man that she is not lazy, but instead pregnant, he just called her “ignorant” and continued to verbally attack her:
“I couldn’t get anything out. I could just tell him, ‘Please, leave me alone, please.’ And my child And my child is just sitting right there, ‘Mama, mama, why would he call you that? Why would he do that?’ I can’t even explain to her why he has so much hate in his heart.”
Thomas’ video soon produced the hashtag #IStandWithErica, which thousands of social media users have attached to tweets supporting Thomas and condemning the man in question.
Though she never mentioned Donald Trump by name, practically everyone who has seen the video agrees that his attitudes towards minorities, as well as his supporters, are the reason situations like this are occurring so frequently.
Roommates, what do you think of Erica Thomas’ situation?
