‘We are sick of you people,’ a North Carolina woman says she was harassed for 30 minutes, in what viewers called a racist rant

A Black woman working as a voter registration canvasser in Charlotte, North Carolina says she endured nearly thirty minutes of harassment from a stranger, in a confrontation many viewers described as racially motivated, as reported by The Nerd Stash. Video of the encounter, posted by @prettygrittychi on TikTok, captures her greeting shoppers outside a strip mall and asking whether they were registered to vote.

Throughout much of the footage, another woman lingers close by, firing off questions about what the canvasser is doing and tossing out one insult after another. At one point, she can be heard saying, “We are sick of you people.” She goes further, insisting the canvasser is just collecting a paycheck and doesn’t actually have a job. The canvasser tries to stay focused on her task and largely ignores the comments, only breaking her silence once the woman won’t stop demanding to know her salary.

She eventually turns to tell the stranger to walk away and leave her alone, but when that request goes unheeded, she opts to relocate rather than keep dealing with it. Racially charged confrontations caught on camera have drawn similar attention online before, including a case where a woman was baselessly accused of using drugs simply for sitting in her own parked car.

Then the internet piled on

The clip has drawn tens of thousands of views on TikTok and continued spreading across other platforms. Commenters were overwhelmingly critical of the stranger’s behavior. “Why on earth would anyone be mad about people registering to vote???” one person asked. Another wrote, “She wanted a reaction and instead she wasted her own time.” A third, who identified as white, added, “We are so sick of these racist Karen and we don’t claim them.”

Many others praised the canvasser’s composure throughout the exchange, with one writing, “You definitely showed grace and class in that situation! No one should have to endure hate.” In a follow-up series of videos, the canvasser walked through what happened before the camera started rolling. According to her, things escalated the moment she simply asked if the woman needed to register or update her voter details.

From there, she claims the stranger planted herself nearby and wouldn’t stop cutting in and hurling insults while she was trying to get through her shift. She additionally claimed the stranger described her using the phrase “you people” and started to utter what sounded like a racial slur before pulling back. Voter registration canvassing of this kind is a legal and widely practiced form of civic engagement in the United States, provided it stays nonpartisan and avoids advocating for a specific candidate or measure.

According to LegalClarity, drives aimed at signing up unregistered voters are commonly run by nonprofit organizations and are protected activities as long as they remain neutral. Canvassers typically work in public spaces or door-to-door, encouraging participation in the democratic process rather than promoting any particular outcome. There is no legal basis for the claim that this kind of outreach amounts to cheating or election fraud.

Neither the identity of the stranger nor any consequences she may have faced have been reported.