It’s a redundant expectation, now, that when these situations arise someone somewhere is saying, “It’s (enter year here), we have to do better.” Yet, we seem to be getting worse. On Thursday (May 18), Hector Torres was waiting at an airport in Reno, Nevada, and speaking to his mother on the phone in her native language (Spanish) when a bystander began to spew racial slurs at him.
When asked by Torres what he did to warrant such hate-filled rhetoric, the man identified as Mike replied, “Talking that f**king stupid Spanish around here when everybody else is f**king English-speaking American.”
As Torres politely explained to Mike why he was speaking in Spanish, Mike exclaimed, “I don’t give a s**t, shut up, shut up,” as he throws his trash towards the young man.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1469115.html
The incident continued with Mike berating Torres irrationally, while Torres expressed that he wanted his due apology. The authorities eventually came to diffuse the situation, but Mike claims that Torres was harassing him and wouldn’t leave him alone. Torres was able to get on his flight that day, while the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority reported that Mike and his family were not.
The airport released the following statement in regards to the incident.
“The Airport Authority is deeply saddened to see this type of situation occur at our airport. Every passenger, regardless of race, religion, the language they speak, nation of origin, sexual orientation, age or political belief is welcome at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.”
Sometime throughout their verbal tussle, Mike revealed that he was a former Armed Force veteran because Torres pleads his equality stating, “My family who is also all military, fought **** like you did, lost limbs…” To which Mike replies, “I don’t care, learn how to speak f**king English. We live in America.”