Latino Managers Attacked for Speaking Spanish in Mexican Restaurant

In 2019, we’re no longer surprised by racist white people telling strangers to stop speaking Spanish and start speaking English

Photo: Unsplash/@nitishm

Photo: Unsplash/@nitishm

In 2019, we’re no longer surprised by racist white people telling strangers to stop speaking Spanish and start speaking English. Ever since Donald Trump became president, there have been more and more videos going viral on social media of  people (officials and otherwise) spewing racist rants toward people of color. But what we haven’t seen as much is the person on the receiving end of the racist slurs handling the situation with grace.

The latest incident of a racist verbal attack comes from West Virginia, where a white couple began insulting a group of Spanish-speaking restaurant managers. The incident occurred at Tampico Mexican Restaurant in Parkersburg, West Virginia on Feb. 15 and it was all caught on video. The group of managers was sitting in a booth discussing the expansion of the Tampico Mexican Restaurant in Spanish when a white woman turned around and told them “English is our first language, so you need to speak English,” and “Get the f*ck out of my country.”

If someone told you that, taking the high road wouldn’t be as easy as it was for the manager Sergio Budar who had to endure this despicable woman. Budar not only tried to appease the situation but also paid for their meal.

“How am I supposed to get out of your country?” Budar said in an interview with Latino Rebels. “This is my country, too. I’m a U.S. citizen, just like you.”

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The woman, who apparently has some mental disorder, begins to say over and over: “So I get raped by an illegal alien.” Budar tells them to leave so they can be in an area where they feel safer. The daughter of Irma Dleon captured the video and posted it on Facebook.

“My poor baby was frightened but cannot believe this continues to happen,” Dleon said. “We should be united as a country, but there is much hate. We are all human trying to help each other out. I will pray for this woman to be a better person, but you can only educate the ignorant. First, they must listen.”

Budar, an immigrant from Mexico, said he is shocked that racist behavior like this woman showed continues to happen today.

“It makes me feel angry, sad. It’s unbelievable that we’re still seeing this kind of behavior to this day,” Budar told NBC News. “I’ve been living here for almost two decades and counting. I got my U.S. citizenship while here, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t speak other languages that are not English.”

Watch the disturbing video below.

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