Black woman films shopper calling her the n-word at Publix: 'Go back to Harlem'
A Florida real estate agent is sharing video footage of her confrontation with a fellow shopper calling her a racist slur and telling her to “go back to Harlem.”
Nickiea Johnson, who is black, told local news outlet 7 News that her run-in with the woman started in the checkout line of her local Publix in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.
“So I came to Publix to get some dog food, and I was actually standing in line to check out when I felt a cart bump me,” Johnson said. “I turned around and I was like, ‘You know, the nice thing to do would be to say, ‘Excuse me,’ and she said, ‘For what?’ I was like, ‘Because you hit me,’ and she was like, ‘[expletive] you [expletive] n-word,’ and that was it.”
Johnson responded by recording the woman and challenging her about her use of the slur. The video footage, which went viral after Johnson posted it on social media, shows the other customer repeating the n-word after screaming at Johnson to stop following her. (Note: The video below contains strong language.)
“Get away from me,” the woman says in the video. “I called security and there are surveillance of you.”
After repeating the slur, she storms off saying, “Good grief! Go back to Harlem.”
“I’m not from Harlem,” Johnson, a mom of two, can be heard saying. “I’m actually from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I live in Miami, Florida, and I’ve relocated here for a better life for me and my kids.”
The confrontation ended there.
“I felt humiliated and insulted,” Johnson told 7 News of the experience. “I just pray for her. I pray for her, and I pray for any children that she is raising with that mindset.”
Johnson later took to Instagram to thank those who have offered support following her run-in with the shopper critics are calling “Publix Polly” and “Bigot Betty.”
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to Johnson for comment.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
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