Some nasty, malevolent wingnut took it on himself to spoil a kindergarten concert in Iowa by yelling "USA! English Only!" over and over when the concert was introduced first in English, and then by a Spanish translator to accommodate Spanish speaking toddlers and their parents.
This occurred last week at the local Performing Arts Center in Perry, Iowa, about 40 miles Northwest of Des Moines, during a concert by Perry Elementary School students. The incident was caught on a 12-second video and provided to the Perry News. The video shows:
[A]n unidentified man being escorted out of an auditorium by security personnel, while he repeatedly chants, "USA, English only. USA, English only," and shakes his fist in the air.
The man responsible for the disruption reportedly started bellowing the chant when a translator began repeating the event host's opening remarks in Spanish.
Perry Elementary has about a 50% Hispanic and Latino kindergarten class.
The incident initially made the local news and is rapidly going national.
It's bad enough that adult Americans have to put up with this hateful nonsense on Fox News, but at least they can change the channel. It takes a particularly heinous individual to bring this kind of rank hatred into a kindergarten. Although, when the state's "leading voice" on immigration issues is an immigrant-bashing Republican Congressman Steven King, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.
Parents were understandably appalled that little children had to witness the display of right-wing inspired racism. Many booed when the man began shouting.
"I've never heard anything like that and it just hurt me really bad," Sara Benedict, whose son was in the concert, told KCCI-TV.
The Superintendent for the District sent an email about the incident to all school staff on Friday:
"We live in a diverse/people rich community that values all people and our children truly are our most precious resource," Ubben wrote, according to The Des Moines Register. "As our elementary music instructor so eloquently said, 'Our children don't see color, they just see their friends.'"
The Police have neither identified nor charged the man, but their investigation is still underway.