An Illinois realtor claimed she was told to 'go back to her country' by a white woman. Xuna Hu, a 31-year-old realtor, and Chinese immigrant was shopping at Lowe's in Springfield on January 17 when she suffered the racist tirade by a white customer. Xuna filmed the video and posted it to her Facebook page.
Xuna Hu said that she was shopping at Lowe's on Wabash Avenue for fire pits. She picked up two fire pits with the intent to buy them and called her father to help load them into the cart. While she stood waiting for her father, she was approached by a lady, who pointed to the fire pits and said she wanted one of those.
Xuna then told the lady that she was taking both and was waiting for her father to help load them into the cart. The woman then asked her if she had paid for those already, to which Xuna replied she hadn't. "Well, I'm taking one from you," the woman said.
'Go back to your country'
Xuna agreed to give her one of the fire pits. The woman, however, stressed that since she hadn't paid for the fire pits, she could take one of them because 'that's how it works here.' As the argument became heated, the woman at one point yelled, 'go back to your country.'
Xuna then took out her phone and started recording while she went over to the register and asked the woman to apologize for her remarks. The woman declined to apologize.
'There is no crime being committed'
At this point, a white Lowe's employee named David got involved in the exchange and asked her to delete the video Xuna was filming. He even called her 'combative' and 'hostile.' "There is nothing that you need the video for. There is no crime being committed," David could be heard saying in the video. Xuna responded that it was nothing to him because he's white.
"It's not right to be racist. And I have full right to protect myself, take the video just in case she does something bad to me," Xuna said.
Meanwhile, the woman who yelled at Xuna left the store. David further said that 'there's no point in talking about it anymore' and asked Xuna to 'pay her money and leave.'
Several users shared the video on TikTok, which went viral with lots of people demanding David be fired for blatantly dismissing Xuna's claims.
In a statement two days after the incident, Lowe's spokesperson said the company spoke to Ms. Hu and apologized. "We are taking swift action to address the matter. We are committed to creating a safe and open environment for all customers," the statement said.
