Miami Doctor Charged with Hate Crime After Violently Attacking Latino

Racist attacks against the Latinos/as in the U.S. is unfortunately not a rarity with Spanish speakers often getting targeted in public spaces by racist bigots. A far-right, Trump supporter and doctor in Miami was arrested and charged with a hate crime Friday, Feb.19 after the police report she attacked a Latino man outside a supermarket on Jan.20, Inauguration Day. Police say she became enraged after the man asked her to remain socially distant while in line at Hialeah Publix, asking her both in Spanish and English, and she continued to ignore him. Dr. Jennifer Wright,58, a Mount Sinai Medical Center anesthesiologist,  vandalized his car, called him a “spic”, and allegedly vowed to “get rid of every single one of you” The Miami Herald reported.

She had followed him to the parking lot and as he unloaded groceries, and approached him within one foot of his face and, according to the report, stabbed his vehicle with her keys. She also reportedly said that he needed to go back to “his country”  and that “we should have gotten rid of you when we could.” She also said “This is not going to be Biden’s America, this is my America” and “we should have burned it all,” the report said.

Reminder wealthy people w/advanced degrees can be MAGA racists and Trump cultists too. To those Latino Trumpers who think racism doesn’t apply to you, think again,

⁦@MountSinaiMiami⁩ doctor accused of hate crime for attacking Hispanic man. https://t.co/c4DwuJ647v

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) February 21, 2021

The victim attempted to call 911 but Wright pushed him and he dropped his phone and she reportedly kicked him as he tried to get it and then she tried to stomp the phone, according to the police. Following the altercation, she fled the scene in her car and after police detectives got involved she was arrested outside her home, The Herald reported. The newspaper also states that Wright was known to post pro-Trump and anti-Democrat memes on Facebook and had a post that read “It’s Okay to Be White.”

Wright was also charged with tampering with a victim, criminal mischief, and battery with prejudice. She posted a $1,000 bond on Friday and had a hearing scheduled for Monday, NBC News reported.  Mount Sinai issued a statement Monday announcing that Wright was “no longer responsible for patient care” at its medical center and that the hospital system is fully cooperating with law enforcement.

This is sadly one example of the effects of the Trump era racism and violence against communities of color. This incident in any instance is unacceptable but amid a pandemic when a man is asking that the rules of being socially distant be respected it’s disheartening that he’s then violently attacked by a racist bigot.