You know, this elderly man sitting in a Palo Alto Starbucks really should’ve known better. How dare he enjoy a coffee while wearing a MAGA hat?! Well, one Rebecca Parker Mankey wasn’t about to stand for it:
This story is crazy. Guy wears a MAGA hat into Palo Alto Starbucks and this woman loses her mind.
“I wanted to know his name, where he lived, his wife's name, and where kids went to school," she wrote. https://t.co/FlGTbbin2C
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) April 4, 2019
More:
On Monday, Rebecca Parker Mankey took pictures of a man wearing a MAGA hat, and wrote in a Facebook post that she “called the entire Starbucks to order and yelled at him.”
“He will never forget me and will think seriously about wearing that hat in my town ever again,” she wrote. “If you see him in this hat, please confront him. You do not want to be the person who didn’t speak up as we slipped into fascism.”
…
The man wearing the hat, identified only as Victor, told NBC Bay Area that Mankey called him a “Nazi” and tried to get other Starbucks customers to shame him.
“This woman comes over, and she says, ‘Is that a Trump hat?’ I said, ‘I think it is, yes.’ And then she turned to the rest of the audience, the people in Starbucks and said, ‘Hey, everybody! Come over here! Let’s get this guy! He’s a hater! I’m calling him out! He hates brown people. He’s a Nazi,'” Victor said.
Mankey has lost her job at a nearby music store as a result of her actions. But she can rest easy knowing that she’s got Palo Alto Human Relations Commissioner Steven Lee in her corner:
My full statement regarding a recent incident at a Palo Alto Starbucks. https://t.co/ahSrlyFX0h pic.twitter.com/7Ox5v0tXzp
— Steven D. Lee (@StevenDLee) April 3, 2019
“Note: The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of the Human Relations Commission, City Council or the City of Palo Alto.” Well, we sincerely hope that’s the case, because Lee’s views are objectively terrible.
And given this ratio:
It seems safe to say that a lot of other people find Lee’s views terrible, too.
"we must resist sinking down to their level" https://t.co/AHBGhkFTGw
— David Edward ? (@_David_Edward) April 4, 2019
We must resist sinking to their level and doing the thing that their side never does and its only ever us doing.
— neontaster (@neontaster) April 4, 2019
— ? Christmas Red ? (@jswifty250) April 4, 2019
— David H. (@Realdenimheat) April 3, 2019
Shame on you.
— Sunshine (@IamSunshine408) April 4, 2019
You couldn't just say "she was wrong to act that way," could you?
SHE was the barbarian inside the gates there, not him.
— Russ Emerson ♿ (@RussEmerson) April 3, 2019
Disgusting.
Friend of psychotic Starbucks lady who harassed old man in a MAGA hat and Palo Alto "Human Relations Commissioner" makes her out to be the victim. https://t.co/lDq1d1nllg
— Cranky Gordon (@StillCrankyAF) April 4, 2019
I think Palo Alto needs a new human relations person.
If you can’t just condemn the bad behavior without criticizing people that did NOTHING wrong, you are a slave to your ideology and part of the problem.
— Steph (@steph93065) April 4, 2019
Congratulations.
You are part of the problem and by your statement actively contribute to an environment of intolerance and hate.
You project your own distorted view and bias onto a hat and you dehumanize people wearing it.
If you can’t see that, it should make you worried.
— Woelf Dietrich (@Woelf20) April 3, 2019
So your "better angels" tell you it's perfectly ok for a random thug to attack a man sitting in a coffee shop minding his own business because she didn't like his hat? THAT'S what you consider tolerant community leadership? You both have a worldview twisted by hatred.
— Terresa (@TerresaHobbs) April 4, 2019
You've worked hard to dehumanize the opposition. Congrats, this is what it looks like.
— Hawkings Austin (@sablehawk) April 4, 2019