Georgia State Rep gets Dem support after claiming white man told her to 'go back' where she came from (others have questions)

Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas has described a run-in she claims to have had at a grocery store:

Today I was verbally assaulted in the grocery store by a white man who told me I was a lazy SOB and to go back to where I came from bc I had to many items in the express lane. My husband wasn’t there to defend me because he is on Active Duty serving the country I came from USA!

— Erica Thomas (@itsericathomas) July 20, 2019

Thomas also described what she says happened in this video:

We have a serious problem in this Country when @itsericathomas is subjected to racism in a Cobb County @Publix in front of her daughter. #gapol. #IStandwithErica thank you @RenittaShannon for alerting me and the @NAACPGA. #NoPlaceforHate. pic.twitter.com/hN5HDS4aG9

— Gerald A. Griggs (@AttorneyGriggs) July 20, 2019

She hasn’t tweeted since and there’s no video of the alleged incident to back that up yet, but the tweet was enough for Patty Arquette, Tom Arnold, Bill de Blasio and Ted Lieu to be among those expressing shock using the #IStandWithErica hashtag:

I’m so disgusted that man harassed you. I am mortified your daughter had to watch that.

— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) July 20, 2019

https://twitter.com/TomArnold/status/1152659052410703872

Let’s be clear: this is on @realDonaldTrump and every single person who refuses to condemn his vile racism. #IStandWithErica https://t.co/Asx5kZaqbs

— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) July 20, 2019

Both @realDonaldTrump and @GOP have grossly underestimated the number of Americans who have experienced the racist "go back" insult. We all know how it hurts. And we are going to vote. I predict a Dem wave in 2020, just like we had in 2018.#IStandwithErica https://t.co/NOBdQcsxd1

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 20, 2019

Challenge: With technology what it is today, get some cell video, store video, witnesses. Let's find out who this guy is and out him. Maybe Publix will ban him. Also, you're the minority vice chair in Ga but cowered down to a rabid racist at the grocery store? #IStandwithErica

— Joe Pags Pagliarulo (@JoeTalkShow) July 20, 2019

Come on. This is a political partisan with a politically convenient story about an incident that sounds invented and doesn’t make sense. It is reckless and idiotic to believe this without evidence. Maybe it happened but there is no reason to think so without some kind of proof. https://t.co/UJr55YT6Hq

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 20, 2019

Get the security video or it didn’t happen. We have seen this story before.

— Tony Two Bets (@tonytwobets) July 20, 2019

Get the store camera footage and prove this even happened.

We’ll wait.

— Zhivago of Tookland (@raywatts) July 20, 2019

How long before this turns out to be a hoax? (And to be fair, it’s REALLY annoying when people abuse the express checkout) https://t.co/2i3lf2pW7f

— Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) July 20, 2019

This is sooooooo Jussie Smollet.

— ? Ellen ???? (@ellen6019) July 20, 2019

On today’s episode of Things That Did Not Happen… https://t.co/1qUZZIjNEc

— Heather (@hboulware) July 20, 2019

This is as transparently false as a story made up by a second grader.

— Drew N (@Lostandworse) July 20, 2019

pic.twitter.com/LaM2GJ35Zd

— Watjalukinat (@watjalukinat) July 20, 2019

And if it did happen, here’s some speculation about why that conversation might have taken place:

Are you sure he didn't see you leave the slow lane line and pop over to the express lane? He probably meant for you to go back to the slow lane where you belong with your too many items.

— SkyePuppy (@skyepuppy) July 20, 2019

Translation:
Store manager <‘white man’>: “Ma’am <‘verbally assaulted’>, That lane is for customers with 10 items or less, you have 37 <‘lazy SOB’>. You’re going to have to go to the regular checkout lane <‘back to where you came from’>.” https://t.co/rs0bIrCRNl

— Fuzzy Chimp (@fuzzychimpcom) July 20, 2019

"Go back where you came from" is referring to the regular lane you were in until you noticed the express lane was shorter and switched to it.

— TheOtherBill (@TheOtherBill2) July 20, 2019

To be continued…

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Update:

We want to make sure to preserve this tweet of support from Beto O’Rourke, who’s claiming Trump’s rhetoric is to blame for the Trump-hating Democrat racially and verbally assaulting another Trump-hating Democrat:

These are the consequences of a president who foments hate every day—and sees our diversity not as a strength but as a weakness. Erica, thank you for serving your state and thanks to your husband for serving our country. We are better than this, and together, we will prove it. https://t.co/eCrdZFgAPl

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) July 20, 2019