Woman's Racist Rant Inside JC Penny
"Speak English. You're in America": This Video of a Racist Woman at JCPenney Is So Infuriating
A video of a woman berating Latina customers inside a JCPenney is going viral.
The video, which was recently posted to Facebook, shows an elderly woman yelling at two other female customers at a JCPenney inside the Jefferson Mall in Louisville, Kentucky. The incident reportedly occurred when the elderly woman became enraged after she believed one of the women cut the line.
"This Hispanic lady was purchasing items and the transaction was almost complete, then her friend brings up some shirts to be added to her purchase instead of getting in line," wrote Renee Buckner, a fellow customer who witnessed the incident and uploaded it to Facebook. "And this lady went off!!!"
The women's comments turned ugly when she started yelling, "Go back to wherever the f*ck you come from, lady," and, "Speak English, you're in America. If you don't know it, learn it." The woman also shouted, "You're probably on welfare, the taxpayers probably paid for all that stuff."
Buckner's Facebook video was shared over 161,000 times but has since been taken down. According to local news station WAVE, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer issued the following statement about the incident:
"This is not who we are, and on behalf of our community, I apologize to the two women who were treated in such a horrible way. I hope this video prompts many discussions among families as they gather for the holidays this week — discussions about basic human values, dignity, and respect."
Both the Jefferson Mall and JCPenney also responded with concern. The Jefferson Mall released a statement on WAVE announcing that they would be working with JCPenney to identify the woman and ensure she be permanently banned from the mall.
JCPenney said it's trying to find the two women who were mistreated in order to correct the wrongdoing. "JCPenney is asking for the community's help in identifying the two women who were targeted for such remarks," read a statement, "as we would like to reimburse them for their entire purchase and offer a sincere apology for their experience."
