Page 1 of 1

My Heroine!

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 9:51 pm
by BoSoxGal
Woman filmed confronting another woman harassing Spanish speakers in Colorado supermarket

The harasser reportedly said: 'You’re in my country. You can’t speak Spanish here.'

A viral video shows a woman confronting another customer at a Colorado supermarket who had been harassing a pair of Spanish speakers.

Kamira Trent tried to stick up for her fellow patrons at the City Market in Rifle, Colorado, after she allegedly overheard the suspected harasser saying to Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin: “You’re in America. You’re in my country. You can’t speak Spanish here. You need to speak English if you’re going to be in America".

The video shows Ms Trent, who is also white, saying to the other woman identified by BuzzFeed News as Linda Dwire, “get out of here, now! You leave these women alone! Get out! Go!," before threatening to call the police.

Ms Dwire can be seen pointing her finger at Ms Trent and approached her and one of the women who had been speaking in Spanish to say Ms Trent "come from a generation that’s destroying this country".

Ms Marin and Ms Velasquez are originally from Mexico and the latter has been in the US for eight years. She was accompanied that day by her three children.

She does not elaborate on that in the video and it is unclear what exactly she meant by that comment.

Ms Trent retorted she does not and said "I have respect, and it does not matter. You don’t harass people like this.”

The heated exchange was caught on camera by one of the Spanish speakers and posted to her Facebook account under the name Faby VelSa.

It has been viewed more than 650,000 times thus far.

Ms Dwire went on to say repeatedly Ms Trent "will lose this country".

Ms Trent then approached Ms Dwire, appearing to escort her away from the other customers and out of the store. She can be heard saying, as a store employee followed them down the store aisle, "You do not harass Hispanic women!"

According to interviews with Ms Marin and Ms Velasquez, BuzzFeed News reported "the conflict began when Dwire overheard Velasquez and Marin speaking in Spanish to each other, and interrupted to ask if the women lived in the US and whether they liked it. The two replied that they did, and Dwire told them to learn English, raising her voice as the confrontation went on."

Ms Trent said she tried to peacefull de-escalate the confrontation at first but Ms Dwire "just got angrier and angrier. I was trying to get her away from the two women, but she wasn't going to leave them alone. What she said and the way she said it was wrong."

Ms Dwire later told police officers the women "didn't have the respect to speak English" and added to the news outlet that she is not racist, just a patriot. "It has nothing to do with race. It’s a patriotic thing. When people come to my country, they need to love it enough to speak English," she said.

Eventually, Ms Dwire was arrested outside of the store and taken to the Garfield County jail on two counts of bias-motivated harassment according to police documents.

She has been released on bond and is set to appear in court next month.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 68971.html

The video made me so happy, I had to watch it 3 times! :mrgreen:

Duck you, racist old twat! Apparently you’re not patriotic enough to learn the law - and that there is NO official language in the United States of America!

I would SO do something like this if given the chance. :ok (Although given all my pent-up middle-aged woman anger, I would probably deck her and end up in the pokey myself.)

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:43 pm
by Big RR
I'd have probably said something about the woman in Spanish to the hispanic women and then started laughing. Nothing pisses off people like her more than that.

As for English being the US language, my European colleagues (ost of whom could speak at least 3 languages) used to joke--a person who speaks 3 languages is called trilingual, 2 languages--bilingual, one language--American.

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:49 pm
by Sue U
t in Rifle, Colorado, after she allegedly overheard the suspected harasser saying to Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin: “You’re in America. You’re in my country. You can’t speak Spanish here.
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:36 pm
by Big RR
Colorado is Spanglish--it's pronounced differently, like Los Angeles. :lol:

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:19 pm
by MGMcAnick
Big RR wrote:I'd have probably said something about the woman in Spanish to the hispanic women and then started laughing. Nothing pisses off people like her more than that.
Mi' tambien.

The only time a slightly similar incident took place in my presence I said "Ella esta' cleosa porque le fallo' le clase' de español la escula secundaria".

It was more like "Hey, speak English".

It got a laugh, probably because my Spanish is pretty lousy.

(She is jealous because she failed her Spanish class in high school.)

I've been one of about 30 "teachers" teaching English to Spanish speakers at my church. The course runs another five Monday evenings. I think I've learned as much Spanish as the three Mexicans and two Costa Ricans at my table have learned English. They have been here from 27 years to seven months. All of them speak a little English.

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:32 pm
by wesw
I like it when Spanish speakers talk shit about people and think that the people don t catch on.......

it is always funny when you bust them....

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 3:11 pm
by Big RR
If you really understand Spanish I'm sure you have found that they are not saying anything about you the vast majority of the time; that has been my experience. It's just that people lawyers imagine the worst when they can't understand what is being said.

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 4:09 pm
by Burning Petard
I am open to information establishing that I am wrong, but I believe there is NO official language for USA. I do know there have been various local efforts and sporadic congressional tantrums, trying to limit government forms to English only. On the other hand there are many safety issues supported by national and local governments that require individuals to have knowledge and that data must be provided so individuals can comprehend. That means in many languages, not just English and French, as it seems to be in Canada.

My own monolingual abilities have been to my embarrassment many times both inside and outside the borders of USA. In the area where I live I see many private business signs in non-English. I recognize Spanish, but there are also lettering forms I don't even identify, probably Asiatic, as well as Korean or Kanji, which I do identify

This thread, for me, highlights the current trend to promote pride in ignorance as 'patriotism'

snailgate

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 6:51 pm
by BoSoxGal
Yes, as I pointed out in the OP, there is no official language in the US which is why people that freak out over others speaking another language in public are ignorant cretins.

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:50 pm
by wesw
was that a Freudian slip, RR?

well, I ve noticed it ALOT.

I m not fluent, but I hung out with a couple guys from the steel shop the other night and much of our conversation was Spanish.

I could get by if I had to.

why would you doubt that I speak Spanish?

Re: My Heroine!

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:19 pm
by MGMcAnick
My younger son is quite fluent in Spanish, could speak some Russian after a stint as a high school exchange student in Kazakhstan, knows a bit of German, and some ASL. He picked up English easily too, speaking in coherent long sentences before his 2nd birthday. I'm not sure if that qualifies him as a polyglot, but he's way ahead of most Americans.

While standing in line at a fast food restaurant, my blond haired boy overheard the girls behind the counter talking about their boyfriends and their nights before. It was a rather graphic sexual discussion. I don't know if he got red-faced, but they sure did when he stepped up and ordered in Spanish.