Portland mother Heather Franklin was minding her own business as she shopped at Everyday Deals Extreme liquidation store on Wednesday when she was allegedly assaulted by a Confederate flag rug, or the men selling the rug, or something.
The 33-year-old was shopping at the store with two small children when she took it upon herself to record her confrontation workers at the store about Confederate flag rugs on display for sale that offended her sensibilities, The Oregonian reports.
The men’s reaction wasn’t what she expected, and it sent her into a panic attack with wild claims of assault as she broke down in tears in the parking lot.
“So you don’t care about having hate flags on your wall?” Franklin asked a store employee in the video.
“How is that a hate flag?” the man asked.
“A Confederate flag is a symbol of slavery, and lynching, and raping of black people,” she said. “It’s a hate symb …”
“It’s just a rug,” the man shot back. “I’m Mexican, What you’re talking about?”
“Learn your history,” he said.
“That’s a symbol of slavery. It’s like having a swastika on your wall. It’s no different,” Franklin insisted. “This is shameful.”
Franklin then started to narrate for the video, describing the store’s location.
“This is usually where I do some grocery shopping, but today we were in here and we spot a Confederate flag,” she said. “Over there on the wall, and they don’t care.”
As she panned around to record video of another employee, he flipped her the bird.
“Bye bitch,” he said. “Get your kids out of here.”
The first store employee then returned with his phone to record Franklin’s antics.
“Look at this liberal!” he said.
“Ya, look at this liberal whiney bitch here,” the second man added. “Bye.”
He continued when Franklin wouldn’t leave.
“Hillary supporter? Bernie supporter?” he said. “Which one did you vote for that lost?”
“Is that why you are in a bad mood?”
“No, I’m in a bad mood because there’s hate symbols on the wall, and I brought my kids in here and now I have to see hate signs,” Franklin said.
“The only one hating here is you,” the man said. “Get your kids and get out of here.”
“You’re the one who started (recording). Go,” the other man said. “I will call the cops.”
“Bye.”
Franklin and the men exchange a few insults and she walked outside the store to continue her narration, recapping her outrage over the rugs.
“Don’t ever shop here, please let them know they have two huge ass rugs hanging that are Confederate flags on the wall, and their response to me was to tell me I’m a bitch,” she said, pointing the camera at herself in the parking lot with the store in the background.
Franklin began to load her kids in her minivan, then started another video when one of the employees came out into the parking lot to see her off.
“Please leave me alone so I can get my kids out of here,” she yelled at the man, who was standing well over 100 feet away.
“Good idea. Get in the front seat, turn the key, and get out of there,” the man yelled back.
“Get away from me,” she yelled.
“I’m nowhere near you,” the man yelled back.
“Instead of running your mouth, you could load your kids up,” he said.
“I was strapping in the car seat and you’re coming up behind me,” she screamed. “This is horrifying.”
A woman approached the store employee to help with the situation and Franklin went hysterical.
“Please tell him to leave me alone! He just assaulted me in the store and called me a f**king bitch!” she yelled at the woman. “Now he’s following me and I have two kids! Get away from me! Oh, my God!”
The woman attempted to calm Franklin down, and she only became more emotional.
“You’re ok,” the woman said.
“No I’m not, he just attacked me in the store and started following me,” she said as she went into a hysterical crying fit.
“They have Confederate flags hanging in their store and I brought it up to them and they started pulling me around and calling me a bitch … and I was … the car, they came out, there was three of them and they were following me into the parking lot,” she said.
Franklin apparently went to The Oregonian with the video, and the news site posted it to YouTube under the headline “Woman intimidated after she asks about Confederate flag rug at Portland store.”
Meanwhile, the store that stocked the Confederate flag rug has removed it, apologized & put the employees involved on indefinite leave. pic.twitter.com/3WOJS3PLE1
— Maggie Vespa KGW (@Maggie_Vespa) May 11, 2017
The ordeal prompted a response from Everyday Deals CEO Andrew Toolson, who apologized for the employees and removed the rugs.
“We receive thousands of different products,” including 150 rungs this week, he said. “On that load were a few of these rugs with symbol of Confederate flag.”
Toolson said the video, which has been viewed about a quarter million times, generated a lot of calls from across the country.
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.