A video of a white California woman’s anti-Asian tirade went viral over the weekend after being posted to Facebook.
Jenny Veladera and her husband were just buying groceries at a supermarket in Daly City, part of the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California. While in the checkout line, an older white woman began to mock the couple by reciting a series of nonsense words and gibberish apparently intended to mime characteristics of Asian speech.
The video cuts in as the white woman appears to be finishing up her recitation of the lingusitic slur. Then she says:
You don’t want me to talk Philippine? Come on, come on, come on. Look at all the groceries they buy. Steal our food, steal our money, steal our jobs. Ha ha ha.
Immediately after the white woman’s sustained cackle dies down, Veladera sighs, “So racist. Oh, my god.” To which the white woman replies, “Yep.” Then Veladera’s husband interjects, “We’ve got a family to feed.”
This triggers the white woman who says, “So what? Go back to your country.” Veladera’s husband notes, “This is my country.” The white woman appears to not believe him as her voice raises to somewhere just below a shout, “You’re lying. You’re lying. You’re lying just like you got here.” The husband says, “Okay.”
Originally uploaded to Instagram, Jenny Veladera noted that the most distressing aspect of the racist ordeal was that her five-year-old daughter was there to see her parents and lineage ridiculed. In a post that’s since been made private or deleted, Veladera wrote, “Shopped @luckysupermarkets and this happened. I’ve never felt so angry and sad overall because I had my 5 year old with me.”
Danika Aquino is a friend of the Veladera family. She appears to have posted the video on Facebook sometime after the Instagram post was no longer public. Aquino’s caption for the video reads:
Earlier today our close friends went to our local Lucky supermarket store in Daly City & as they were checking out this old racist disgusting hag was behind them harassing them and making racist comments towards them . This is exactly what America has turned into and we need to put a stop to people like her !
As the clip winds down, Veladera’s husband asks the cashier, “You have the right to refuse service, right?” While asking his question, the white woman launches into her bit one final time, “Take our food, take our jobs, and then they say, ‘Oh, you’re prejudiced!’ We’re all looking for the dream. Screw our dream.”
Veladera’s husband then continues, saying, “I think you should [refuse her service.] Honestly. I think she needs to know whose country this is.”
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher