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Rep. Mah forces apology from Lowe’s over alleged racist incident in Springfield

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Illinois

An Illinois state lawmaker is calling out a Springfield Lowe’s after an alleged racist encounter this week between two customers.

On Monday, Jan 17, Xuna Hu, a Chinese immigrant and Springfield resident, said she was shopping at the Lowe’s store on Wabash Avenue when a woman told her to go back to her country.

Hu says she was trying to buy two fire pits. She says she was waiting for family to help lift the heavy products when another store customer began to verbally attack her with racist remarks after Hu wouldn’t give her one of the fire pits.

“I was like alright, I’ll just give you one then. She went, ‘This is how it works here.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay ma’am, if I give you one it’s because I’m trying to be nice, it’s not how it works here,’” Hu said. “And then she was like ‘Go back to your country.’ Loud. In the store.”

An online video from Hu reportedly shows what happened right after the alleged incident.

The video is here.

* Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago) has posted a petition online calling on Lowe’s to apologize…

On Martin Luther King Day, January 17, 2022, Xuna Hu, a Springfield resident, was shopping at the Lowe’s at 3101 Wabash Avenue in Springfield, Illinois, when she was racially harassed by a customer whose daughter Jennifer works at the store. She was told, “GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY” after the woman hostilely took one of the two firepits from her that she was planning to purchase, and when Xuna followed her to the checkout station with her cellphone camera on to demand an apology, another employee, David, blocked access to Jennifer and her mother, dismissed her request, and repeatedly demanded that she stop recording and erase her video. David kept demanding that Xuna erase the video because he claimed that she “was making [the incident] something bigger than it was.”

However, Lowe’s should know that for an Asian American to be told to “Go back to your country,” is to experience an unfortunately too common example of anti-Asian hate and racism. Asian Americans have been in the US for more than 175 years and those of us who live here have every right to call it home. The United States is our country too, so for someone who sees an Asian face and says “GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY,” they are assuming foreignness and expressing their belief that we do not belong in this country as much as a white person does, and that is just plain wrong. That’s blatantly racist and wrong.

* Statement from Lowe’s…

“We were appalled to hear about this experience. At Lowe’s, discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. We spoke to Ms. Hu and apologized, letting her know we are taking swift action to address the matter. Our intent is to always ensure customers feel valued, respected and welcome. We are committed to creating a safe and open environment for all customers.”

* CAIR-Chicago…

The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today condemned an anti-Asian racist incident at a basketball game between Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CAIR-Chicago also supported a state lawmaker’s call for action after another anti-Asian racist incident in Springfield, Ill.

A viral Tik Tok video shows a University of Wisconsin-Madison fan making racist gestures toward a group of Northwestern fans at a basketball game between the two universities on Tuesday. The video shows the fan being escorted out of the stadium by a Northwestern official and a police officer. The Wisconsin Badgers condemned the incident on Twitter, calling it “abhorrent & disgusting.”

SEE: Wisconsin Badgers respond to video of racist fan at Northwestern game
https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/wisconsin-badgers-respond-after-video-of-fan-making-slant-eye-gesture-at-northwestern-students

Illinois State Representative Teresa Mah (D-Chicago) is calling on Lowes to take action and provide racial sensitivity training to employees after an alleged anti-Asian incident at a Springfield Lowe’s. A Chinese immigrant was reportedly told to “go back to your country” by another customer. When she reported the incident to Lowe’s staff, they told her to stop recording video and threatened to kick her out of the store. In her online petition, Rep. Mah said this was not the first anti-Asian incident she heard of happening at a Lowe’s.

SEE: State lawmaker calls for change after alleged racist comments made at Springfield Lowe’s
https://newschannel20.com/news/local/state-lawmaker-calls-for-change-after-alleged-racist-comments-made-at-springfield-lowes

“As racist incidents targeting Asian-Americans and other members of minority communities continue to rise both in Illinois and nationwide, it is important that lawmakers, leaders and community members speak out and take action against hate,” said CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab.

He said the American Muslim community and CAIR stand in solidarity with all those challenging anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.

CAIR-Chicago is the Chicago Chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Our mission is to defend civil rights, fight bigotry, and promote tolerance.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:02 pm

Comments

Not a peep out of Sandra Hamilton. Shocking.

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:13 pm
I simply refuse to suffer these fools, i.e., racists, bigots, xenophobes, antisemites… You know, I always pray that my civil/reasonable side wins out when facing these low-life forms. I really enjoy my freedom to come/go as I please, be with my family, etc.

Comment by Yiddishcowboy Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:13 pm
== Not a peep out of Sandra Hamilton. Shocking.==

If you’re going to play that game, I don’t see a statement or peep out of Doris Turner, either.

“Shocking.”

Comment by fs Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:18 pm
Credit to Rep. Mah for calling this out and shedding light to it when it’s obviously well outside of her district.

Comment by The Real Downstate Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:21 pm
==If you’re going to play that game, I don’t see a statement or peep out of Doris Turner, either.==

No comment out of Mayor Langfelder either.

Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:25 pm
David didn’t handle that situation well, but he was put in a really tough spot. He didn’t witness the original altercation and he had the possibility of having a fight between two customers in the store. In my view, keeping them separated was a good choice. The real villain in this situation is the racist customer.

Comment by NickNombre Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:31 pm
- fs - Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:18 pm:

Says more about you that you think that is some kind of gotcha than a reflection on yourself and the person you’re writing about. Shows exactly what kind of person you are and exactly what kind of town Springfield is.

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:33 pm
== No comment out of Mayor Langfelder either.==

Correct. Nor any alderman. Nor speaker Welch. Nor Senator Durbin. Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible, even in our instant video age, that none of them were aware of it. To immediate attempt to portray silence on an incident that happened within the last few days, to try to assert that it must mean no comment being issued somehow means they are ok with it, that the original comment was clearly inferring, is asinine.

Comment by fs Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:34 pm
I’d like Xuna Hu to know that I’ve lived in Springfield, on and off, for the past 35 years, and I abhor the comments made to her by this obviously mentally disturbed old white woman. Also repugnant is the inability of the employee of Lowe’s to recognize bigotry when its presented to him. Its really hard to decide which is the worse violation.

Apparently old white woman forgets that she is a descendent of immigrants. I’m fine with sending old white woman back to Germany, or Austria, or the UK, or whatever European country that her descendants came from.

This behavior has no place in the United States of America and should be disavowed by every resident of Springfield.

Comment by L.A. Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:36 pm
Lowe’s need to perform some serious racial sensitivity training in that store and company-wide. The employee made it worse by being clueless and insensitive to the racist antagonism. Would like to see Lowes report out what they did about training in this situation. Be better.

Comment by Boomerang Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 1:48 pm
===and should be disavowed by every resident of Springfield===

Should be is a sentiment I agree with, and I think you’d get some decent agreement with disavowing the racist behavior out of residents of Springfield proper, but that support will wane as you reach to the surrounding communities for comment.

Sangamon County went 51.1% for Trump in 2020. If disavowing racism was a priority for the people living there I think it would impact how they cast their ballots.

I know what you’re thinking, but Sangamon County only went 47% for McCain, and went 53.3% for Romney and Trump himself got 51.6% in 2016. It’s not necessarily fair to use a partisan election result to determine the underlying racism of a community or people that live there, but it does go pretty far to suggest that a majority of the people living in Sangamon County put their rubber stamp on anything and everything Donald Trump did.

The real question is how much impact these racists have on the state agencies they undoubtedly work at, especially on hiring, retention, and recruitment.

If you start asking around Springfield I think you’ll find your sentiment isn’t necessarily a popular opinion.

Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 2:07 pm
“should be disavowed by every resident of Springfield.”

I’m not dumb enough to think that everyone will disavow it. I’m also aware of the politics at work in Sangamon County. Just because a majority of the population won’t disavow it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.

Comment by L.A. Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 2:29 pm
= Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible, even in our instant video age, that none of them were aware of it. =

I live in Springfield, and the first time I heard of this incident was when I saw this CapFax post.

Comment by cover Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 2:47 pm
The person who made that comment can go back to hell.

Comment by AD Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 3:08 pm
Any state law that prohibits one from videoing or recording someone in a store? It is my understanding that it is legal to do so with certain exceptions as defined by 720 ILCS § 5/11-20.

However, the employee was under a real tough situation, and unless I know more, I certainly can not blame him or Lowes for some customers disgracefull action.

Comment by Unconventional wisdom Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 3:19 pm
Rep. Mah is amazing for doing this.

Comment by Raegan Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 3:36 pm
Lowe’s also needs to get her a second fire pit like the one she kindly let the abusive person take.

Comment by Medvale School for the Gifted Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 4:18 pm
Too many people skimming past the part where the employee “repeatedly demanded that she stop recording and erase her video. David kept demanding that Xuna erase the video because he claimed that she ‘was making [the incident] something bigger than it was.’”

I get not witnessing the incident, but minimizing what happened when you don’t have all the details AND demanding someone stop recording is beyond foolish. It’s his dismissive comments which likely escalated this to corporate HQ. It’s also the kind of attitude that emboldens people like this racist customer.

Comment by ChicagoHooligan Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 4:40 pm
Besides the racism, which was horrible, isn’t the polite response when someone has two of something you want and offers to give you one of them, “thank you?” Not “go back to your country.”
Some people are just raised by scorpions I guess.

Comment by Da big bad wolf Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 4:57 pm
Saw the story on the WICS Facebook page.
Made the mistake of checking the comments there.
You would be surprised how many people were trying to downplay or even defend what happened.

Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 5:11 pm
I don’t understand why the David guy at Lowe’s didn’t call a manager and let them handle it. Then it wouldn’t have been his problem whether the person was videotaping the incident.

Comment by wayward Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 6:36 pm
To the post,

It’s disgusting, the mere fact someone can feel comfortable to say such horrid things.

I really don’t know how the embolden and empowered feel racism is ok.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 6:40 pm
Duckworth has now tweeted about it, fwiw

Comment by The Real Downstate Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 8:51 pm
David will soon be fired. It’s a black eye for Lowes that an employee acted that way.

Comment by slim dan Thursday, Jan 20, 22 @ 10:25 pm