As the United States continues to deal with the scourge of racism, issues for minority communities continue to pop up in.. unusual ways. This week at a Mexican restaurant in Anaheim, California, a not immediately identified man launched into an embarrassing fit of rage over a single Spanish word on the eatery’s sign, even though its English translation — “Friday” — was right there for all to see.
Watch:
One wonders why he ever went in there in the first place. Doesn’t he think tacos have homing devices tracked by immigration authorities or something? It wouldn’t be far-fetched with this guy. Maybe he thinks Spanish words turn you into a Mexican, like they have a magic power.
In video of the incident, the customer can be heard yelling:
‘It says it’s in Mexican. We’re not in Mexico. We’re in America. Not Spanish.’
Well, nobody is “in Spanish,” since that’s an ethnic descriptor and the name of a language, not a place. Mexican describes a place, on the other hand, and is not the name of the language that people there speak.
At one point, when a customer behind him in line exhorts the man to go get a hamburger or hot dog and get out of their hair, he shouts:
‘I’m an American! I don’t do Spanish.’
Well in fact, his thinking must be stuck decades in the past — at best — since tens of millions of Americans and counting “do Spanish.” In 2016, 40 million U.S. residents age 5 and older spoke Spanish at home according to the Census Bureau, which is more than double the number of Spanish speakers in 1990, when there were some 17.3 million.
Eventually, the guy who’s racist against tacos did leave the Southern California eatery where he made his blood boil over a Spanish word coming within ten feet of him, but not before he made those he was targeting deeply uncomfortable.
Restaurant owner Juan Del Rio shared with local media:
‘One of my cashiers — she was really shaking when he left. He was like in a bad mood and aggressive — like not having a good day.’
Cook Ruben Velasquez shared:
‘One works honorably. We don’t take the bread out of anyone’s mouths.’
He caught the guy on cellphone camera as he left, asking him who he was going to call.
The man shouted:
‘Immigration!.. Because you’re not legal!’
It goes without saying that the man had no evidence that anyone in the restaurant was an undocumented immigrant. The assailant simply took the presence of a Spanish word as evidence of a secret conspiracy to undermine his Americanism and steal his flag shirts, or something.
As Del Rio noted on his cellphone video:
‘This is over a taco.’
There’s a clear undercurrent to the whole ordeal — Donald Trump and his racism.
President Trump is the guy who’s stood on the national stage throughout recent years and insisted that immigration authorities’ activities should be ramped up on a massive scale. Although facing the realities of the presidency, the promise has faded into the background, he at one point asserted he would deport every one of the well over 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. without any apparent concern for what threat they actually posed and what stage of the integration process they were actually in.
That angry guy with the racist promises on the campaign trail is still leading American policy today.
Featured Image via screenshot
