A simple incident that would have ended with a “pardon me” or an “I’m sorry” escalated into a series of racist comments and even threats as a man shopping at Costco in Turlock, California, bumped into a Black man’s shopping cart. A TikTok video detailed the entire exchange. “You wanna say that again?” the person behind the camera asked the man who had bumped into his cart. “You’re pretty ugly,” the White customer responded, unfazed by the fact that the Black man was recording.
The White man stated that this was his country, making the man behind the camera say, “You’re funny. I’m a U.S. citizen too.” Mocking the man, the White man said, “Ouu, he has a green card.” The Black man told him that he didn’t have a green card, as he was born in the US. Evidently fed up with the exchange, the White man stated dismissively, “Just get your spiny Somalian [expletive] out of here,” and then asked, “What are you? Black Indian?” when the other man had said he wasn’t Somalian.
They went on for a few more moments before the Black man said, “Finally grew the balls to say something, huh? Sure, you got picked on in middle school.” Turning around and walking towards the person recording as if what he said struck a chord, the white man responded angrily, “I’ve never been picked on in my [expletive] life.” Standing right in front of the camera, he threatened, “And if you don’t shut your [expletive] mouth, I’m gonna [expletive] shut it for you.”
Netizens wasted no time blowing up the comments. “It’s Turlock, doesn’t surprise me,” a user wrote. Addressing Costco, another said, “I know you’re not okay with your shoppers being threatened and harassed by racists. Revoke this guy’s membership!” A few TikTokers blamed the brazen display of racism on the present administration. “Out-of-shape white men are the angriest people in the country, and this administration has emboldened them,” one wrote. “Trump’s America, keep promoting racism!” a second one added sarcastically, and a last one wrote, “The rancid racism previously whispered is now green-lighted. No coincidence he mentions Somalia the same day Don the con unleashed on them from the WH.”
A user said, “The Black man should have gone to the manager immediately. The scumbag should have been escorted from the store and barred from shopping there again. Never engage with these morons.” Someone else wrote, “Central Valley Racists… There’s a lot of them here in California.”
The criticisms kept flowing. “What’s up with all these White people? They’re so racist. Just because they see a dark skinned person, they assume that we have green cards, that we are illegal. That is so stupid of these people,” a TikToker wrote. A last one echoed the sentiment, asking, “Why would he assume a Black man isn’t a US citizen?”
