A Black woman trying to check out her groceries at a North Carolina Food Lion found herself on the receiving end of a racist outburst from an older white man. The confrontation happened at the store on Vernon Avenue in Kinston, where the woman remained relatively calm as the man became increasingly aggressive. An older woman who appeared to be with him eventually stepped in and pulled him away.
Candy Tilghman filmed the encounter as the man stood nearby with a shopping cart full of groceries. He complained about Tilghman’s behavior before suddenly making the confrontation about race.
“The Blacks think they own the *expletive* world, but they don’t,” he tells her. Tilghman warns him not to “go there” and points out that she is recording him, but he responds, “I don’t care, record me all you want.”
The man then appears to defend what he said by arguing that he had only referred to Tilghman as Black. “I ain’t said nothing but black. I ain’t told you no ugly word,” he says.
He then declares, “I’m white,” before adding, “And I’m proud of it.”
Tilghman refuses to engage with him on race and tells him, “I don’t care who you are” and “You’re out of control.” The older woman with the man eventually pulls him away.
The video was shared by @LongTimeHistory, and according to the accompanying caption, Tilghman later said she was grateful to have the “Holy Ghost” and her “love for Jesus” to help her remain composed during the confrontation, and she expressed hope that Jesus would save the man’s soul.
Internet Reacts to North Carolina Food Lion Confrontation
Meanwhile, commenters had plenty to say about the man’s behavior. One person imagined responding much more aggressively, writing, “I would have hurt his MAGA feelings. The sheer amount of explicit words that I would be calling him, will make him brave and courageous, he’ll attempt to strike me.”
Another believed the camera changed his behavior, writing, “He stopped saying what he had to say when he saw the camera.” A third commenter directly connected his behavior to his apparent politics: “This is what Trump supporters look like.”
Others also viewed the confrontation through a political lens. One wrote, “The maga cult is openly attacking people bc they think it’s okay.” Another saw the incident as an example of a wider problem, saying, “This is proof of the sad state of America! These people are weird asf.”
A final commenter similarly connected the man’s remarks to the current political climate, writing, “Welcome to Trump’s America where MAGA finally says the quiet parts out loud.”
The Nerd Stash did not find a statement from Food Lion about the Kinston incident at the time of publication.
