A Portland, Oregon, woman recorded herself confronting employees of a liquidation store because there were Confederate flag rugs for sale.
At the beginning of the video, the woman, identified as Heather Franklin, can be heard asking, “You don’t care about having hate flags on your wall?”
A man in a blue shirt then asked, “How is that a hate symbol? You should read your history.”
Franklin replied by saying, “It’s a symbol of slavery, it’s like having a Swastika on your wall.”
When she walked by a man in a red shirt, now identified as an employee of the store, he flipped her off and said, “Bye bitch.”
He then asked, “Are you a Hillary or Bernie supporter? Which one did you vote for that lost? Is that why you’re in a bad mood?”
She responded by saying, “No, I’m in a bad mood because there’s a hate symbol on the wall.”
Eventually the woman left the store after being asked to do so multiple times, but she lingered around in the parking lot and continued to film, venting her frustration to the camera.
The two men who also filmed the argument with Franklin followed her to the parking lot as she began to scream, “Let me leave!” and “Don’t come any closer!”
The woman kept saying she was trying to leave, but couldn’t because the men were “approaching” her, but the video clearly shows the men stood at a safe distance.
When a woman in the parking lot approached one of the men who was filming, Franklin quickly became erratic, breathing heavy, shaking and crying.
The woman who was attempting to help the situation then walked toward Franklin saying, “You’re ok”, but Franklin refused to be calmed, replying, “No I’m not, he just attacked me in the store.”
Franklin’s own video documentation proves she was never physically assaulted or attacked and that she started the confrontation in the first place.
The Portland media came to Franklin’s defense with headlines like, “Woman Intimidated After She Asks About Confederate Flag Rug At Portland Store” and even promoted a protest set to take place at the store
The CEO of the store, Andrew Toolson, cowered down to the liberal media of Portland by removing the rugs from the store and placing the two employees on indefinite leave.
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 Confederate flag has caused controversy for years, but the tension it brings has escalated during the Trump era.
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