On Friday, Georgia State Rep. Erica Thomas, a Democrat, moved from a “slow” checkout lane at her local Publix supermarket into the express lane provided for those who have only ten items or less. She claims she had only fifteen or so items, but she is nine months pregnant and had a child with her.

No one knows what words passed between she and another customer next.

Thomas claimed she was “verbally assaulted in the grocery store by a white man who told me I was a lazy SOB and to go back to where I came from bc I had to many items in the express lane. My husband wasn’t there to defend me because he is on Active Duty serving the country I came from USA!”

Today I was verbally assaulted in the grocery store by a white man who told me I was a lazy SOB and to go back to where I came from bc I had to many items in the express lane. My husband wasn’t there to defend me because he is on Active Duty serving the country I came from USA! — Erica Thomas (@itsericathomas) July 20, 2019

Her attorney, activist and advocate Gerald Griggs, sounds like Al Sharpton back in his “Tawana Brawley” days. He posted a video of a tearful Thomas describing her painful encounter with her white oppressor. It must be seen to be believed.

We have a serious problem in this Country when @itsericathomas is subjected to racism in a Cobb County @Publix in front of her daughter. #gapol. #IStandwithErica thank you @RenittaShannon for alerting me and the @NAACPGA. #NoPlaceforHate. pic.twitter.com/hN5HDS4aG9 — Gerald A. Griggs (@AttorneyGriggs) July 20, 2019

Celebrities including Patty Arquette, Tom Arnold, Bill de Blasio, Ted Lieu and Beto O’Rourke joined the fray “using the #IStandWithErica hashtag.” Thomas is/was scheduled to share her agonizing story on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” on Sunday morning.

Patty Arquette: “I’m so disgusted that man harassed you. I am mortified your daughter had to watch that.”

Tom Arnold: “Donald Trump is a disgusting f**king coward whose made it okay for disgusting f**king cowards to bully women. Especially women of color but it started when we allowed Donald Trump & his disgusting base of ignorant racists to threaten & bully Sec Hillary Clinton. #IStandwithErica

Bill de Blasio: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It begins with a tweet.

Then a chant. Now a racist attack on a 9-month pregnant lawmaker and military wife just trying to feed her family. #IStandWithErica

Ted Lieu: “Both @realDonaldTrump and @GOP have grossly underestimated the number of Americans who have experienced the racist “go back” insult. We all know how it hurts. And we are going to vote. I predict a Dem wave in 2020, just like we had in 2018.#IStandwithErica”

Beto O’Rourke: “These are the consequences of a president who foments hate every day—and sees our diversity not as a strength but as a weakness. Erica, thank you for serving your state and thanks to your husband for serving our country. We are better than this, and together, we will prove it. #IStandwithErica”

Then, the truth emerges. Thomas’ oppressor spoke to reporters and vehemently denied the allegations. This accused “racist” man turns out to be a “Cuban immigrant and a Democrat who just defended “The Squad” against Trump’s “racist” tweets, told the president to “go back to Germany and his Nazi roots,” and recently posted about his own experiences with “hidden and outright vocal bigotry, ignorance and racism” because his grandmother didn’t speak English, only Spanish.”

There are two videos in the tweet below.

In the first video, Thomas confronts this man. He tells Thomas that she made the accusation for political purposes. He says he a Cuban and a lifelong Democrat. Thomas says “No. You are white.”

Actually, Ms. Thomas, he is Hispanic. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tries, she can’t change the fact that this man is Hispanic.

In the second video, a more calm Thomas walks back her claim. It sounds as if the man told her to “go back” to the other lane because she had too many items for the express lane. Thomas sees an opportunity to turn this into “go back to where you came from” and runs with it.

Please watch the following clips:

Oh shocking. He didn’t tell her to go back to where she came from. The truth is finally emerging. pic.twitter.com/mCu7aY6XSd — Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) July 21, 2019

Like the #MeToo movement, all a “person of color” has to do is make an accusation against a white person and they are instantly believed. Democrats, especially celebrities, are quick to pounce on the accused with attacks of their own. The news spreads fast. Suddenly, someone who has done nothing wrong becomes Public Enemy #1.

This story illustrates the anatomy of a false racial smear and the ease with which one begins and how rapidly it can accelerate.

If this man did not have a social media history clearly displaying his dislike of Donald Trump and his support for “The Squad” in the latest feud, this story would surely escalate.

Georgia Rep. Erica Thomas should be forced to resign for her false accusations against this man. But she won’t.

Here’s another hashtag: #FireEricaThomas