A security camera in a North Carolina convenience store captured a disturbing scene on Tuesday in what some suspect to be one of the latest in anti-Asian incidents across the U.S.
In the footage, which was posted to the Instagram account @markuswithgrace by a person describing herself as the daughter-in-law of the store owners, a man can be seen destroying merchandise and intimidating staff and other customers with a thin metal bar. The incident was characterized by some commenters as racially motivated because the store is Asian-owned.
The accompanying text stated that the man was "spewing racial slurs and other verbally abusive things" and that an accomplice repeatedly yelled, "That's what you get! That's what you get!" The video itself has no sound.
According to @markuswithgrace, however, this kind of encounter is all too common at the store.
"My husband's parents get spit on, stolen from, threatened, and verbally AND physically attacked on a daily basis. Filing police reports are part of the daily routine at their store in the public transit," she wrote in part. In another paragraph, she alleges her mother-in-law was sexually harassed following the March 30 carnage.
"After the initial incident yesterday, a group of guys lined up at the doors, yelling over the broken glass, making all kinds of grotesque, sexual gestures at her while she and my father-in-law cleaned the mess left behind," she wrote.
The video has already accrued over 20,000 views on Instagram. It depicts the man hurling a rack of snacks to the floor, whacking the sliding glass door of a refrigerator or freezer and punching a plastic divider stationed at the register before putting down the bar. Throughout, bystanders can be seen running for cover and amassing behind the checkout counter.
@markuswithgrace expresses anger and frustration at the pointlessness of the destruction.
"They just woke up and went to work - like every other day," she wrote of her in-laws. "What exactly was it that they "did" to deserve this?"
The video has since been reposted to Reddit, where it has fostered a discussion about historical and current racial tension between Black and Asian people, as the main perpetrator of the crime appears to have been Black, according to the video.
Attacks on Asians and Asian-Americans have risen sharply since the beginning of the pandemic. Between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021, the nonprofit organization Stop AAPI Hate recorded 3,795 separate hate crimes, including both verbal and physical altercations. On Wednesday, a suspect in a brutal assault on a Filipino woman in midtown Manhattan on March 29 was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
