Walmart banned a couple for a year after they were recorded wearing swastika face masks at a Minnesota store.
The disturbing footage was posted on Facebook by vicar Raphaela Mueller, Daily Mail reports. In the video, the couple can be seen paying for their purchases at the cash register, while wearing bandana masks with giant swastika signs.
A man off-camera can be heard telling the troublesome pair: “You’re sick. You have an illness, you can’t be American and wear that mask.”
The woman then aggressively raises her arms into the air while flashing her middle fingers at the one recording her and her partner. Seeing her rude gesture, the off-camera man tries to explain to the woman why it’s absolutely unacceptable for her to wear this mask, saying: “We literally had a war about this.”
As the clearly ignorant woman walks back and forth, insisting she is not a Nazi, she says: “I’m not a Nazi. I’m trying to tell people what’s gonna happen with America if you vote for Biden.”
Later in the video, as the woman raises her voice, she adds: “If you vote for Biden, this is what we’re gonna have, socialism!”
Furthermore, a man can be heard saying the Nazi masks the couple is wearing are “so incredibly offensive”.
In her social media post, Raphaela Mueller, a vicar of a southwest Minnesota parish, wrote:
“I was born and raised in Germany, and I grew up hearing about my great-grandmother who fought in the underground against the first wave of Nazis in the 1930s and 40s. Let me make this abundantly clear once and for all – THE SWASTIKA IS A HATE SYMBOL AND YOU DO NOT FLY THE FLAG, YOU DO NOT WEAR THE SYMBOL ANYWHERE ON YOUR BODY, YOU DO NOT USE OR DEFEND THIS SYMBOL, EVER. END OF STORY.”
Additionally, according to Ms. Mueller, the store manager didn’t have the power to keep the pair out, even though they were wearing offensive swastika face masks. The vicar believes suchlike masks should be put in the same category as no masks, now that the new rules require wearing protective face wear while in supermarkets and other public places.
Soon after the distressing video went viral, Walmart confirmed the incident took place at their store in Marshall, Minnesota.
In an interview with KARE, police said they were responding to a call at the store at about noon on July 25. They were called at the supermarket because a couple was creating a disturbance with their face masks. The pair’s names weren’t revealed. However, police identified them as a 59-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman – with a notice of trespass.
Although onlookers called the cops on the outrageous couple, they left the store without incident.
Later the same day, in an official statement about the incident, Walmart issued:
“What happened today at our store in Marshall, MN is unacceptable. We strive to provide a safe and comfortable shopping environment for all our customers and will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any aspect of our business.
We are asking everyone to wear face coverings when they enter our stores for their safety and the safety of others and it’s unfortunate that some individuals have taken this pandemic as an opportunity to create a distressing situation for customers and associates in our store.”
What’s more, the retail corporation said they banned the couple from shopping at their stores across the country for at least a year.
Ms. Mueller, who was born and raised in Germany, explained why she reacted so emotionally after seeing the insulting swastika masks:
“It’s been shown that, biologically, trauma passes down through the generations in your DNA. My immediate physical reaction was nausea and wanting to cry, so I can’t imagine what that must feel like for other people who lost family members in the Holocaust.”
Edit, since this is going much further than I thought it would (and the trolls and haters are starting to roll in): I was born and raised in Germany, and I grew up hearing about my great-grandmother who fought in the underground against the first wave of Nazis in the 1930s and 40s. Let me make this abundantly clear once and for all – THE SWASTIKA IS A HATE SYMBOL AND YOU DO NOT FLY THE FLAG, YOU DO NOT WEAR THE SYMBOL ANYWHERE ON YOUR BODY, YOU DO NOT USE OR DEFEND THIS SYMBOL, EVER. END OF STORY.
Posted by Raphaela Mueller on Saturday, July 25, 2020
Even though the ignorant couple is currently not facing charges, they could be arrested if they are seen shopping at any Walmart store for the next 12 months.
