‘I hate Mexicans,’ woman shouts at mother in viral video from Disneyland
After a video went viral showing a woman shouting “I hate Mexicans†in a Disneyland parking lot bathroom, a man was arrested while protesting outside her San Bernardino County home over the weekend, authorities said.
Eva Ramirez confronted the woman for making racist comments toward her and her 2-year-old son for speaking Spanish as they were heading into the Anaheim theme park on Tuesday, according to an Instagram post from Ramirez, who recorded part of the encounter.
The woman in the video, wearing a Steamboat Willie T-shirt and mouse ears, says, “This is America. You don’t speak Spanish in America, an English-speaking country.â€
“I have a child and I speak Spanish to my child. You have a problem with that?†Ramirez says. “We can speak Spanish wherever the heck we want to.â€
The woman, accompanied by an older woman who got into a wheelchair after using the bathroom, tells Ramirez she and her son should not have used a large, unmarked stall.
Though suicide prevention advocates argue for safety barriers at tall structures, Disneyland has not elaborated on any measures after three deaths in a year.
“Your comment was racist and it had nothing to do with using the restroom,†Ramirez says.
The woman throws up her hands and says, “I don’t care. I hate Mexicans, it’s true. There it is.â€
As the woman walks by Ramirez and several other people in the restroom, she extends her middle finger toward the camera.
Disneyland security told Ramirez they could not make the woman leave because it was only a verbal confrontation, she said.
“A security guard told me, ‘Well, what do you want us to do about it?’†Ramirez said when reached by phone Monday.
She wanted someone with Disneyland to acknowledge the racist incident, but security only offered to escort her into the park after she showed them the video, she said. When she and her son were escorted in, she saw the other woman being led into an office.
Hundreds gathered in downtown Santa Barbara Sunday night following a viral video capturing a white woman arguing with a Latino man.
“They told me that they already got her side of the story, and it felt dismissive as I tried to explain what happened,†Ramirez said. “I told them I wouldn’t stay at Disneyland, because I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that they let that other person into the theme park and didn’t do anything for me.â€
Security guards called Anaheim police officers to the park, but Ramirez said Disneyland employees seemed to downplay the confrontation.
A spokesperson for Disneyland could not be immediately reached for comment, and the Anaheim Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Ramirez’s video has received over 8,500 likes on Instagram and subsequent re-posts by other social media accounts. The exchange in the bathroom was first reported by KTLA-TV Channel 5.
Several social media accounts shared the name of the woman believed to have made the racist comments, but she has deleted or made her own social media accounts private. A person who answered a phone number associated with her name hung up when a Times news reporter identified themself.
On Sunday, a small crowd of protesters gathered outside a home in Apple Valley, where activists said the woman lives. As they shouted her name, San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies arrived in four cruisers, according to video shared by the Instagram account Riverside County Accountability.
Last month, Santa Barbara was rocked when a video of a woman railing against a Latino construction worker went viral. Now she’s been charged after the release of a second video.
Among the protesters was Edin Enamorado, an activist known for calling attention to people who make racist comments or harass street vendors, often protesting outside their homes and places of work or over social media.
A deputy told the protesters to get on the ground, but nobody moved. The group recorded the deputies as they approached, and Enamorado said they had permission to protest from a neighbor in the gated community.
A few seconds after stepping out of his car, a deputy handcuffs Enamorado and another deputy throws his phone into the street, according to the video.
Enamorado said he was booked on charges of trespassing and refusing to leave. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department confirmed that Enamorado was arrested and released from jail.
“We were there to let her know and her neighbors know who she is,†Enamorado said when reached by phone on Monday. “I do think she is a bigot, but first I would say that she is uneducated.â€
Enamorado said Ramirez reached out to him to provide a bigger platform for her Instagram post, adding that he feels people who make racist comments in public should know there are consequences for their actions.
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