There were three Mexican guys there having lunch. It's a popular place for landscapers and construction people, which by the truck out front they were. Good food, and lots of it for the money.
Anyhow, one of the guys was talking on his phone, in Spanish. He kept looking up at me where I was standing at the counter waiting for my order. If you have met me you'll understand why he might have done that.
I decided right then and there that I am not going to stand idly by while my country embraces blatant racism and xenophobia. I'm sure you've all heard about the racist rants against people speaking Spanish or daring to look Middle-eastern in public.
So I asked the proprietress if they had already paid, and she said no. I told her that I wanted to pay their tab, and she asked me if I knew them. I said no, but they appeared to be from Mexico and that I was not going to put up with the way things are going of late, and she seemed pleased with the thought. On the way out I stopped at their table and told them that not every old white person in America is a bigoted idiot, that they should speak Spanish all they care to, and if anyone gives them shit about it to call me. They seemed to appreciate it.
Obviously, they aren't going to call me. Hopefully, they were pleasantly surprised when they found their check had been paid. Frankly, I expect that it means much more to me than it does to them. I did it for myself, because I cannot abide what is happening here.
Maybe it gave them a bright spot in their day, but I can't recall the last time 35 bucks spent made me feel this good. It's not altruism, it's survival. Maybe the best thing we can do is to demonstrate on an individual basis that there is still such a thing as human decency, even though it is utterly absent in the current administration.
In any case, for a while, I felt a little better.
L
