The White man she is referring to is a guy named Eric Sparkes. The next day while Erica Thomas was giving an interview in front of the store to explain what happened, Sparkes showed up. On live TV, Sparkes denied that he told Thomas to go back where she came from but admitted to calling her a “lazy bitch.”
Sparkes then went on to try to justify his actions by accusing the politician of trying to further her career. “This woman is playing the victim for political purposes because she is a state legislator,” he said. “I’m a Democrat and will vote Democrat for the rest of my life, so call me whatever you want to believe. For her political purposes, make it black, white, brown, whatever. It is untrue.”
So Eric Sparkes admits to approaching me and verbally assulting me in front of my 9 year and but not the rest of his statements. You sounds like a coward to me and that’s fine you will think twice before you berate any one again!You keep lying we have witnesses that will testify! pic.twitter.com/HRWTBZ89SC
— Erica Thomas (@itsericathomas) July 21, 2019
Unfortunately, the incident inside the store was not captured on camera, however Erica Thomas still wanted to share her story. “He needs to be held accountable, because people can’t just go out in public areas and berate pregnant women,” she said. “Whether it was because I’m pregnant, whether it’s because I’m black.”