El Paso, Texas woman, Jasmin Nolan shares video of her being harassed by a white male after speaking Spanish to her mother at a Cracker Barrel restaurant.
Also going viral is yet another episode of ‘white America’ taking exception to individuals electing to speak in tongues other than English- case in point – a viral video from a Texan Cracker Barrell joint which recently saw a local harassing a Spanish speaking woman.
The video as posted on Facebook by Jasmin Grace Nolan, of El Paso, recorded her being verbally castigated by an unidentified ‘white’ man who took exception to her speaking in her native tongue with her mother.
In her post, Nolan- who is bilingual, describes the moment of disconcert when the unidentified individual approaches her, telling her, ‘This is America. Speak English.’
It’s at this point, Nolan described recording the ensuing interaction.
‘Why can’t you speak English?’ the man is recorded telling Nolan.
‘Oh I can — I can speak English and Spanish. I’m bilingual and in this country I can speak whatever language I want,’ Nolan responds, while noting in her post, that the man is drinking a beer outside.
‘You’re not even supposed to be having that open container,’ Nolan now responds.
The man goes on to tell Nolan that he is a veteran suffering from PTSD. Nolan responds that her husband is deployed with the military.
‘At the moment, it was very upsetting,’ Nolan told via ABC-7.
Jasmin Nolan: ‘These things happen all over the US’.
‘These things happen all over the US, but just the fact that it happened here in my hometown — we’re a border city — it’s a very bilingual city. It was just infuriating.’
Nolan said her husband is proud of her for standing her ground.
“My husband doesn’t speak Spanish. We come from very different cultures. He’s from Wisconsin,’ Nolan said. ‘He was very proud of me for standing up to [the man in the video]. He thought that this man was completely wrong.’
Cracker Barrel has since responded with the following statement following the viral video:
‘We at Cracker Barrel are governed by our mission of Pleasing People. In the spirit of those two simple words, we operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are at the core of our corporate culture and evident in our stores. We respect all individuals regardless of who they are or what they believe and we require the same mutual respect amongst our employees, guests and vendors.’
Welcome to a brave ‘divided’ America….
