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In the Age of _____, this is a victory for the right side.
On the day before Thanksgiving, a woman named Jennifer Boyle was shopping at a Michaels store in the Chicago area and apparently felt she was being discriminated against—she’s a white woman, you know—because she was asked if she wanted to buy a $1 shopping bag for her items.
Oh, and because she was a _____ supporter.
“Why don’t you shut your face?! And I voted for Trump, so there! What, you want to kick me out because of that? And look who won! And look who won! And look who won!The last person who said out loud they voted for Trump got beat up. So what, you’re all going to beat me up?” — Jennifer Boyle
Boyle then proceeded to call the manager—identified only as Holli, who came by to help, and perhaps explain to Boyle how things work—an “animal” and a “lying piece of shit”.
Boyle, a former HR employee who has a history of shouting at retail employees; days after the Michaels incident, a video surfaced of Boyle verbally assaulting a Peet's Coffee employee because, again Boyle was discriminated against for being white.
But this isn’t about Jennifer Boyle—who, thankfully, has gone into hiding after her tirade appeared on social media—it’s about another Michaels shopper that day. Jessie Grady, the shopper who witnessed the attack, filmed it, and uploaded it online.
Boyle then notices that Jessie Grady is filming her and turns her wrtah n a fellow shoper; she tells Grady to go home to her husband, whom she says is cheating on her, and accuses her young child of stealing. Boyle then pulls out her phone to film Grady—two can play that game—while continuing to argue with the clerk and store manager.
Grady started a GoFundMe page to raise a few bucks for Holli:
“On the night before Thanksgiving, I witnessed a white woman engage in a 30 minute racist rant against the employees at a Chicago Michaels store. I am starting this gofundme because I’d like to do something to try to make it up to the employee who was the main target of this racist attack.”
Grady wanted to let Holli know that “many people are horrified by how this woman treated her, and that we stand with her and appreciate her hard work.” She wanted to raise a few hundred bucks, but ended up raising more than $32,000.
Grady said that Holli—who is trying to stay out of the limelight—is going to school to get her Master’s degree in psychology so she could become a guidance counselor; she also has a small side project knitting scarves and hats for homeless teens. But Holli did publish a letter in response to the support she has seen.
“I’ll start with this ... I am in utter shock. You have all single handedly changed my life. Each of you have shown me that this world is worth living in. ... I know what I’m here for and that’s to help others reach their higher potential. With your support I have been blessed with the opportunity to live and not just survive daily. We stand together side by side in truth and know love trumps hate. Blessings to you may your light continue to break through the darkness.”
Holli said she’ll use the donations to provide for her family’s needs while also helping her get her business going, which will enable her to “give back to my community even more now.”
As we all need to remember, love trumps hate, and resistance trumps ____. We can and will stand against those who feel empowered by _____ to act of their racism and their hate; we will stand against them and we will win.
Resist.
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