Witnesses say that Ms Heather Ellis sashayed right past those waiting in line - something acceptable only if you are on fire, and even then, you may not stop to cut in line. Ms Ellis was not on fire...yet. She cut in front of those waiting and shoved the merchandise belonging to another customer behind hers on the conveyor belt to make room for her own. I know how this would go over at the local Walmart where the racial mix is extremely diverse. Patrons wouldn't care whether she were white, black, purple, or teal. It is likely that they would choose to point out her faux pas. If she didn't mend her ways, she could be identified as black and blue regardless of her original coloring, people take these things seriously here, and in Kennett, Mo where this story originated on that fateful day in June of 2007. Unfortunately the woman who happened to have her items shoved backward on the conveyor was white. It's reported that Heather Ellis, the then - 20-year-old college student and preacher's daughter, became belligerent when confronted. Unless and until her attorneys release surveillance tapes, we have only the involved witness accounts to counter Ms Ellis, who maintains that what transpired next was racially motivated.
In a letter to the NAACP, Ellis claims 'cuttsies' in line on a technicality. She explained that she was joining her cousin in a faster moving line. Try that move on the Friday after Thanksgiving, you're likely to get stuffed even if you're the Queen Mother. My apologies, I digress...but merely from a shoppers' viewpoint, certainly not a racial one. Waiting your turn is the code of the shopping line, broken only when a polite shopper with a huge cart invites another with only gum, or a personal hygiene product to go first. It's rare, but I have seen it happen with my own eyes. From all accounts, the customer whose merchandise Ellis shoved back the better to insert hers, was not offering such a deal. Ellis claimed that she was then pushed by the white customer, hassled by
store employees, called racial slurs and physically mistreated by Kennett police officers, whose physical and psychic wounds have healed nicely after three years. The police officers are not likely forget Ms Ellis, even without their
scars. Court documents state that Ellis was requested to calm down, a suggestion she emphatically refused. Likewise, she turned down other requests to simply leave the property, both requests were made by the manager and a security guard. Having failed to quiet or dislodge her they felt they had no option other than to call the police.
Continue reading "video Anderson Cooper: Heather Ellis..ruthless Walmart line jumper, or racism victim?"
Obama! Get rid of DON'T ASK DON'T TELL this weekend! Republicans will implode and forget all about Health care and the environment. Bus gays into straight neighborhoods!
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