A tense scene unfolded inside a JC Penney store after a white woman wrongly accused a Black man of being involved in a jewelry theft, only to be confronted by his family moments later.
The incident, now circulating widely on Instagram, began when the woman in a red shirt pointed at a Black man who had just entered the store with his family. Loss prevention staff had been chasing a jewelry thief moments earlier, and the woman claimed the man matched the suspect.
“So you said you saw a Black guy run that way?” a Black woman from the group asked her. “Yes, just about like him,” the woman replied, explaining the man she saw was wearing shorts and looked like the woman’s son-in-law.
#Racism is comprehensive, systemic and persistent in the #US. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members openly used racist slogans to preach white supremacy, incite racial discrimination and hatred. pic.twitter.com/IVHVrCWXS2
— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) April 6, 2021
The woman recording the video, who was wearing glasses with a built-in camera, asked, “Because he’s a Black guy?” The white woman didn’t back off. Instead, she accused the Black woman of “starting trouble” and began walking away. “No, you’re starting trouble!” the woman replied loudly. “Don’t accuse my son-in-law of being a thief.”
Atlanta Black Star reports with the video being posted, that things quickly escalated. The white woman suddenly turned around and came back toward the family, bumping into the woman recording. The two got into a brief physical confrontation in front of a jewelry counter. Employees stepped in as the women elbowed and shoved each other, trying to keep them apart.
As store staff attempted to calm things down, the white woman began to deny making any accusation at all. That only made the argument louder. Just before the confrontation ended, the Black woman shouted across the store, “I’m not my ancestors, but I’ll show you!”
Later, she posted about the experience on Instagram and tagged JC Penney in her message.
“Today I was assaulted in @jcpenney by a Karen!” she wrote. “After she accused my son-in-law of being a thief. As we walked in, loss prevention was chasing a jewelry thief out the store. This lady instantly accused him of being with him. My son-in-law said she said to him twice ‘I bet you know him’ and he said nothing back, and the third time she said ‘I bet you know him don’t you’ with her finger pointed towards his face, is when my daughter heard her. She then realized, after my daughter looked confused and asked ‘what,’ is when she must’ve realized that my son-in-law was with us. After asking her what did she say and mean by that, she became angry and aggressive and pushed me.”
She said store employees agreed the woman had physically pushed her but did not ask the woman to leave. Not wanting to be portrayed as the aggressor, she left the store herself, but returned later to file a police report.
“They already know who she is!” she added. JC Penney responded to the post directly, writing, “Thanks so much for reaching out—we’re truly sorry to hear this happened. This isn’t the experience we want our customers to have, and we’re here to help!”
They also asked her to message privately with store details and contact information so the matter could be addressed internally.
The video has gained traction online, with many reacting to the exchange and what it revealed. But for many watching, one moment stood out above the rest. A woman, wrongly accused and pushed, refusing to stay quiet. “I’m not my ancestors, but I’ll show you!”
