26 shaky seconds. That’s what it took.
Video posted to X from a ShopRite in Stamford, Connecticut, appears to show a gray-haired woman wearing a pink tank top, holding cigarettes and groceries, telling an Indian customer a string of racist, anti-immigrant slurs during what the poster describes as an argument over a return. The clip has gone viral, and the comments are doing what they do.
According to the poster, the woman body-shamed the customer, calling her “fat,” and then sent her off with: “Turn your fat *expletive*, go back to your *expletive* country, and get your little *expletive* return. And stay out of America. Go eat your bacon. Lord knows you have them. Thank you guys, I love you. Have a beautiful day.”
She then walked away.
The identity of the woman in the video could not be confirmed independently by any news outlet as of this report. One YouTube video posted the same day as the X post identifies the woman as Victoria Mason and states she typed her ShopRite loyalty number into the register on camera (a point the poster says is self-identifying).
That claim comes from the poster of the X video and could not be confirmed. The Indian customer on whom the woman is directing her speech could also not be identified. Store employees, according to the poster, stood by and did nothing to help.
Internet Reacts To Connecticut ShopRite Racist Rant at Stamford Store
The Connecticut ShopRite racist video sparked debate online, with most commenters urging accountability, and a few going further than the poster intended.
Several pushed for exposure and legal action. “Someone has to know who this person is! Time for everyone to know what she really is!” one person wrote. Another went straight to legal strategy: “Sue the store for damages and report this bisc for racism, go legal, go nuclear with both the establishment that allowed this to happen and the bisc who did it,” a user commented.
Others came with commentary laced in dry humor. “I am sure her rent and credit card bills are due. I can see the stress on her face,” one person wrote. While another kept it surgical: “She’s happy with her canned tuna and frozen patty! let her cry!” a user commented.
One tied the moment to a broader political current: “When the President posts tweets of a former president and 1st lady as apes and thinks it’s OK… then this is the result,” one comment read.
Regardless of whatever triggered the confrontation, it’s not occurring in isolation. Since 2020, anti-Asian and anti-South Asian harassment incidents in public places have been recorded at unprecedented levels, and a significant proportion of those incidents occur in public spaces like grocery stores, pharmacies, and checkout lines, and subsequently go viral.
Stop AAPI Hate, the national coalition tracking anti-Asian harassment incidents, has recorded thousands of reports in its first two years of existence, and proponents suggest the true number is much higher because few bystanders formally report.
