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Lena Jones Facebook screengrab
There's a disturbing trend in America of white people being caught on video targeting, and attempting to police, the behaviour of black people in public.
The internet has seen BBQ Becky, Permit Patty, Cornerstone Caroline and Pool Patrol Paula - and now people have dubbed a woman in Tennessee Target Tammy.
Mobile phone footage shows a group of three black shoppers in a Tennessee Target being verbally reamed by an angry white woman who was berating them for allegedly talking about sex.
The woman allegedly told then they "don’t belong here" and she can be heard saying in the video that they were "perfect for the court system" because they were such "good liars".
The three minute clip of the argument has gone viral. Lena Jones, one of the women in the video, shared the incident on her Facebook page. She said she had been trying on hats at a Target in Nashville with her friends and made a reference to Eartha Kitt’s character in the 1992 film Boomerang.
"We just had a BBQ Becky experience!" she wrote.
This was just the last 3 minutes of it, but this woman [literally] approached us, told us our brief reference to Eartha Kitt in Boomerang was an inappropriate conversation and asked us to leave.
We shouldn’t be talking our personal lives in public. ‘You people are trained liars and perfect for the court system’ and other racial comments. I wish I’d taken my phone out sooner. Oressa handled it well.
The black women attempted to calmly explain that they were not talking about having sex, but rather about a hat Kitt wore in the movie.
The woman was undeterred and refused to leave them alone, prompting them to suggest she needed a hearing aid. Another added the Target woman should "get some".
The white woman in the NASA shirt said:
You were talking about sex in public — are you having sex in public? Because that’s what you screamed out loud.
The third black woman said she wanted them to "stop engaging with this woman".
The white woman refused to leave, and called them "abusive" for calling her "ignorant".
"I didn’t realise that personal attacks were normal," she said. "I also didn’t realise that talking about sex in public was normal."
I understand you’re an abuser. I understand you’re abusive and you make up lies. Keep telling me I’m ignorant… personal attacks…
Talking about sex in public is not illegal in America, by the way. In any of the 50 states.
That didn’t stop the woman from continually criticising the black women, and eventually a Target employee approached the group and asked if there was a problem.
One of the black ladies attempted to explain the incident and the white woman interrupted. She said:
I know you’re trained liars… you’re perfect for the court system. You guys should all go to court because you’re trained liars.
Jones told Yahoo Lifestyle:
You never think it could happen to you. We’re educated women - we are not aggressive people and we avoid conflict.
She added that the male employee tried calm the woman down, who remained uncooperative.
When we left, the woman was still speaking to the employee and playing victim.
The unnamed woman has been dubbed 'Target Tammy' by people online.
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