Wife of Pennsylvania’s Lt. Governor called racist slur

Pennsylvania’s second lady Gisele Barreto Fetterman, 38, was verbally attacked and called racist slur at the grocery store on Sunday.

The wife of Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, who is an immigrant from Brazil, was verbally attacked and called the n-word in a hateful attack at a grocery store over the weekend.

The wife of Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, 51, went to buy some golden kiwis at an Aldi’s near her home outside Pittsburgh after 5.30 pm on Sunday when she was called racist slur.

“I ran to the local grocery store and was met by and verbally assaulted by this woman who repeatedly told me I do not belong here,” she wrote on Twitter.

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Fetterman is a Brazilian immigrant who was formerly undocumented. In the short video she posted, an unidentified woman pulls down her mask in a parking lot. And then the woman calls Fetterman the n-word. Fetterman recorded the moment of the racist slur from inside her car, but she said the attack began inside the store after the woman recognized her.

“She said, ‘There’s that n-word that Fetterman married. You don’t belong here. No one wants you here. You don’t belong here,’” Fetterman told The Washington Post. “The fact that she was so comfortable and bold to just do it to my face with an audience was really scary. I was just kind of frozen in that moment.” Fetterman said to the Washington Post.

Fetterman referred to the fear she felt during the times when she was an undocumented immigrant. “It was a really long time of really living in the shadows and being really scared of every knock at the door.”

A racist slur representing division

Now, with this racist slur incident, she feels a return to that dark time of fear and insecurity. She said she felt “unwelcome all over again and scared.”

On Twitter, Fetterman said the incident was an example of the division in her state and the country. “This behavior and this hatred is taught. If you know her, if she is your neighbor or relative, please, please teach her love instead,” she wrote.

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey tweeted his support for Fetterman. He said about the racist slur that, “it’s on us to teach our children kindness, acceptance and inclusion, and condemn hate whenever and wherever we see it.”