Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty
Footage from a violent incident last October shows a white Target security guard punching a Black shopper in the face.
The white male employee’s blow came after the Black woman demanded the retailer pay her $1,000 grocery bill as a means of reparations.
The incident happened between Zach Cotter, 28, and Karen Ivery, 37, at a Target in Blue Ash, Ohio, according to the Daily Mail.
The situation escalated after Ivery told a store manager that she was “owed” her groceries. Cotter arrived after the 37-year-old encroached on the manager’s personal space. CCTV recordings show Ivery walking up to the store manager and making chest-to-chest contact, pushing the manager toward a counter directly behind them.
The security guard claimed he punched Ivery in self-defense after she stormed at him and followed him into his backroom office. Footage from the incident shows Cotter swiftly throwing and landing a punch on the side of Ivery’s face.
A police report said, “After watching the video footage, we determined that Ivery was the aggressor.” Authorities charged the 37-year-old with Menacing and Disorderly Conduct for her involvement in the incident.
Cotter called the police after he punched Ivery. When the authorities arrived, the 37-year-old said, “Physically, I am OK. Emotionally I am very, very angry.”
The upset “aggressor” said, “Do you know who I am? Clearly you don’t know who I am,” while speaking with the police. She also said, “This is my Rosa Parks moment.”
Ivery told an officer that she wanted to “have a larger conversation” with her local Target employees “about how money works, and how provision works, and how it’s been working in our community in a very wrong way.”
The 37-year-old Ohio resident was convicted and sentenced to serve one day in jail in December for the Target incident. Authorities also reportedly charged Ivery $110 for disorderly conduct.
A Pew Research analysis published in November 2022 highlighted the stark contrasts in support for reparations to Black Americans as an atonement for slavery. Black Americans were 85 percent more likely than their Hispanic and white counterparts to believe the impacts of slavery still affect Black people in the U.S.
“Around three-quarters of Black adults (77 percent) say the descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. should be repaid in some way, while 18 percent of White Americans say the same.”
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