A white woman rushed to defend two Hispanic ladies who were being harassed by another woman telling them to “speak English” is being hailed as a hero after the video that captured her went viral online.
The incident was caught in an aisle of a City Market grocery store in Rifle, Colorado on Monday, October 1, 2018.
What Happened?
A woman who allegedly harassed two people for speaking Spanish in a Colorado grocery store was confronted by another woman before being arrested in an incident captured on video, according to Heavy.
The footage has now been viewed over 600,000 times since it was originally posted to Facebook. The conflict began when the harasser, identified as Linda Dwire, overheard the two women, whose names are Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin, speaking Spanish to each other. Dwire then interrupted to ask if the women lived in the U.S. and whether they liked it. After the two replied that they did, Dwire raised her voice and told them to learn English.
Woman stands up to racist bully that was verbally abusing Hispanic women because they weren’t speaking english inside a store.
Kamira Trent, you give me much needed hope. Thank You! #KamiraTrent
— Michael Ⓜ️ (@michaelschweitz) October 3, 2018
At this point, Trent stepped in to tell Dwire to leave the women alone and get out of the store.
“I’m calling the cops. You leave these women alone! Get out!” In the video, Trent could be heard telling Dwire in front of Velasquez and Marin.
“You come from a generation that’s destroying this country,” Dwire replies.
“No, I do not. I have respect. You do not harass people,” Trent counters.
“You will lose your country,” Dwire says while pointing her finger at Trent. “You know what, you will lose this country.”
Trent then walks away with the woman further down the aisle, could be heard saying, “You do not harass Hispanic women!” while Dwire continues to tell her that she “will lose this country.”
Trent eventually called the police and Dwire was arrested. She was taken to Garfield County Jail and charged with two counts of bias-motivated harassment, according to an arrest affidavit reported by Buzzfeed. Dwire was released on bond and is due back in court in November.
Who Is Kamira Trent?
According to her social media, Trent lives in Rifle, Colorado. She defended Velasquez and Marin, who are Mexicans, from Dwire who were harassing them at a grocery store by telling them to “learn English” and that “they cannot speak Spanish in her country.”
Trent’s Facebook is flooded with people praising her for standing up to Dwire. Her Facebook profile now has over 600 comments with people from all over the world thanking her for defending Velasquez and Marin.
Trent told Buzzfeed News that Velasquez and Marin thanked her later that evening and the three hugged. She also learned that she had previously coached Marin’s daughter alongside her own on an extracurricular volleyball team.
