Go Back To Your...Checkout Aisle?

civilwarbuff said:

But falsely accusing the man of saying things he did not say.....that's OK? The lack of addressing the real issue, being falsely accused of racist overtones, seems to imply that.....

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Sparkes said he came to the store to speak to the manager and saw TV cameras in the parking lot and decided to speak to them. Sparkes told the news stations, “This woman was in the express lane that says ’10 items or less’ two other lanes completely free open. I go pay for my three items in one of the other lanes. It frustrated me to see her there with that many items, she had about 20 items, so that frustrated me. I went to the customer associates at Publix and talked to them by the front door.” He said he asked if anything could be done and the employee told him, “Well it’s not Publix’s policy, we’re not allowed to confront any customers about the express lane, but a customer can.” Sparkes said he thought about it and almost walked out, but then came back in and went up to Thomas. He said he didn’t know her name or that she was a legislator. As Sparkes was explaining to the news reporters what he says happened, Thomas intervened.

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Ana the Ist said:

So a black female Georgia legislator wants a man arrested for saying something "racist" to her...

Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas wants man arrested over alleged racist confrontation



Apparently, she was in the 10 items or less express checkout lane with more items than the lane allows. A "white" man approached her, and they had some words regarding her using the express lane...

The thing is....she's not really sure what was said, she's just sure it was racist...



I guess she has since doubled down on her original claims of racism. Normally, this would probably go the same direction as many other cases of "viral racism"....except that the man accused of racism is getting his side of the story out in the media as well...



Not only is he claiming that he never said "go back to wherever"...he's claiming he's not even white, he's Cuban. He's also anti-Trump, anti-racism, votes Democrat....and apparently thinks these things will influence people's opinions of the incident. Here's his side of the story....

Eric Sparkes: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

What do you think? Obviously the confrontation happened....but do you think he said something racist? Do you think she's playing the victim for political points or national attention? Do you find it amusing that he thought he could clear his name by telling people he's not white and he's a Democrat who posts anti-racist stuff on Facebook?

Do you think we give too much attention, as.a society, to every little claim of racism?

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cow451 said:

I do think having a tantrum over somebody having broken the sacred rule of the Express checkout is stupid. Take a deep breath, for crying out loud.

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Ana the Ist said:

I tend to agree....but I've also seen the local grocery store I frequent kick someone out of line for having too many items. I've gone through with 3 or 4 too many items...but at some point you're basically defeating the entire purpose of an express lane.

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carlv_52 said:

I was at the grocery store the other day and standing with my 3 items in the 15 items or less lane and there was someone ahead of me who had 28 items (yes I counted). I was far more angry than I should have been. The worst I could do, however was a stern glare and a few heavy sighs. I did fight the urge to suggest that the person with the 28 items might want to revisit the "counting" section of kindergarten.

But I didn't.

Still, I can see how this would cause people to snap and suggest others go to another lane.

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carlv_52 said:

Agreed...but still, I mean there ARE rules in our society. We are a society of laws. And taking more than the appropriate number of items into the expresslane IS a bridge too far.

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Ana the Ist said:

I've never said anything to anyone, but I've seen other people do it. If it's just a couple of items....it does seem rather petty. I mentioned in another post that I saw the cashier kick a person out of their lane...but that person had a lot of items.

I don't think this guy should have gone back into the store just to confront the woman....but it's also weird that she sat down and made a video crying about it to post online.

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carlv_52 said:

I did fight the urge to suggest that the person with the 28 items might want to revisit the "counting" section of kindergarten.

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Radagast said:

I've read about this response (probably mythical):

A: Did you go to Harvard or MIT?
B: Huh?
A: Well, either you went to MIT, and you can't read, or you went to Harvard, and you can't count.​

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Hazelelponi said:

All forms of racism and xenophobia etc. etc stems from ignorance, so if we are going to be responsible members of society we should dispel, through actions and words, that ignorance...not feed it.

We live in the biggest experiment the world has ever seen, and if we will make it work we will learn to live here, together, with one common goal - that of freedom.

Dispel ignorance through knowledge and action.. not force. Live as one society, not many. We are either all American in this country or we are nothing at all.

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Ana the Ist said:

I've never said anything to anyone, but I've seen other people do it. If it's just a couple of items....it does seem rather petty. I mentioned in another post that I saw the cashier kick a person out of their lane...but that person had a lot of items.

I don't think this guy should have gone back into the store just to confront the woman....but it's also weird that she sat down and made a video crying about it to post online.

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