Racism at the supermarket: “I won’t be served by a ‘negro’.”

A woman came to the check-out with her shopping and refused to be served by the cashier because he was black.

This episode took place in Varese, on Thursday, 11 October, when Emmanuel, a 28 year-old from Ghana, an employee of 8 years, was on duty at the supermarket, in Via Corridoni, which is owned by the Fantinato Group.

That day, the woman, who, according to the supermarket, had already been involved in a number of incidents of intolerance, had exceeded the limit and started shouting abuse at the employee; she threw a can of beer at the check-out, before leaving the shop and all of her items.

“The woman said she didn’t want to be served by a ‘negro’, verbatim, and threw a can at me,” said Emmanuel, accompanied by Giancarlo Pignone, from the company’s external relations, and the general manager, Paolo Fantinato. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me, so I made a complaint to the police.” The scene was also filmed by the closed-circuit TV cameras.

The video interview with Emmanuel:

The 28-year-old received the full support of the company on Saturday 13 October, and when the news spread, he also received solidarity from people who came to the shop to greet him.

In the afternoon, the Mayor of Varese, Davide Galimberti, went shopping in Via Corridoni, to express the council’s solidarity after such a serious episode of intolerance.