The owners of a Haitian food truck are suing a small town in Virginia over allegations that a town council member cut the food truck's water line and screamed, ‘Go back to your own country.’

A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.

When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.

But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”

“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”

  • anon6789@lemmy.world
    1·
    9 months ago

    I clicked on this story by accident, but I’m glad I read it. There’s some real gold in here…

    It said the council member cut an illegal sewage pipe — not a water line — after the food truck dumped grease into Parksley’s sewage system, causing damage.

    “I’m mad at you for getting grease in the sewer…so I will cut this line which I supposedly believe contains grease so it can go all over the street, smelling great and eventually getting washed into this very same sewer anyway!”

    But Henry Nicholson, the council member, allegedly complained the food truck would hurt restaurants that buy equipment from his appliance store.

    “T’is but a coincidence!”

    Nicholson … tried to block a food shipment and screamed: “Go back to your own country!” when Bastien confronted him.

    “We did everything we’re supposed to do,” Bastien said. The couple came to the U.S. in the 2000s and received asylum after fleeing this hemisphere’s poorest nation. Benoir is a U.S. citizen, while Bastien is a permanent resident.

    Several community members said the lawsuit unfairly maligns a town that has integrated recent immigrants into its 0.625 square miles (1.62 square kilometers).

    Parksley has two Caribbean markets, a Haitian church and a Latin American restaurant

    U.S. Census numbers show that 600 people identify as Haitian in Accomack County, with several thousand more on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in lower Delaware. Sangaramoorthy said the region’s Haitian population likely numbers in the tens of thousands.

    Sounds like this guy isn’t aware who funds this town… They must make up a large portion of the residents to have this much stuff there in this tiny little town.

    “We’re waiting to see what justice we’re going to get,” Bastien said. “And then we’ll see if we reopen.”

    The couple’s lawsuit is seeking compensation for $1,300 in spoiled food, financial losses and attorneys’ fees. They also want $1 in nominal damages for violations of their constitutional rights.

    I wish my town was full of people as patient and civil as this couple!

    She said Parksley’s Haitian food truck provided something vital — familiar foods that remind people of their homeland — to people often working long hours.

    “It’s a community that is triply marginalized for being foreign, Black and speaking Haitian Creole,” Sangaramoorthy said. “They feel like they need to keep to themselves, so it’s surprising that this couple was brave to even file a lawsuit.”

    How dare they?!?

    Thanks for posting, OP, this was crazy!

      • anon6789@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 months ago

        Interesting link, thank you for sharing!

        The very poor and very rich pay very little tax relative to their income. By lifting people up to a decent income, making them taxpayers, it would seem help everyone. I don’t get the incentive to keep anyone poor.

        Plus I’d rather have a cool Haitian neighbor than some snooty person. Haiti seems to get especially screwed over by both people and nature, so those guys deserve a break.