A woman in Colorado is being called a "shero" for protecting two Spanish speakers from harassment by another woman.
The incident took place at City Market in Rifle, Colorado, where two Mexican women, Fabiola Velasquez and Isabel Marin, were shopping for groceries. Another woman, Linda Dwire, overheard them speaking in Spanish and allegedly began to berate them.
"You're in America. You're in my country. You can't speak Spanish here," Linda reportedly told the women, according to BuzzFeed News.
That's when Kamira Trent overheard and decided to step in.
"You leave these women alone! Get out!" Kamira shouted at Linda.
"You come from a generation that's destroying this country," Linda fired back.
"No, I do not. I have respect. You do not harass people," Kamira insisted. The brave young woman proceeded to basically escort Linda away from Fabiola and Isabel, making sure that nothing further happened.
A video of the incident has gone massively viral, with over 1.3 million views on Facebook and another 12.5 million views on Twitter.
The video doesn't include Linda's initial harassment but instead begins with Kamira shouting her down.
"I'm calling the cops," she declares. "You leave these women alone! Get out! Go! Uh-uh!"
Linda points her finger at Kamira and really gets in her face.
"You come from a generation that's destroying this country," she accuses.
But Kamira isn't phased.
"No, I do not," she responds. "I have respect. You do not harass people."
Kamira told BuzzFeed News that Linda just "got angrier and angrier."
"I was trying to get her away from the two women, but she wasn't going to leave them alone," Kamira recalled of the incident. "What she said and the way she said it was wrong."
"You will lose your country," Linda warns Kamira in the video. "You know what? You will lose your country."
Linda told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview that she doesn't feel that she's a racist.
"It's a patriotic thing," she said. "When people come to my country, they need to love it enough to speak English."
After being confronted by Kamira in the store, however, Linda began to falter and walk away, at which point Kamira confidently followed her away down the aisle as if to make sure she didn't come back.
"You do not harass Hispanic women!" Kamira continues yelling as she and Linda walked away.
With millions upon millions of views on social media, the incident has clearly struck a nerve with a lot of people. It shows how bystanders can stand up for vulnerable people in situations like this.
Fabiola, who has lived in the US for eight years and was with her daughters and son at the grocery store, said she felt a "great feeling of helplessness" while being yelled at by Linda.
Fabiola and Isabel both thanked Kamira later that night, and the three women hugged.
After Linda and Kamira left the store, Kamira eventually called the police, who arrested Linda and took her to the Garfield County jail. Linda is being charged with two counts of bias-motivated harassment and is due in court in November but is out on bond until then.
Meanwhile, people are beyond impressed with Kamira's actions — to the point that they tracked down her social media pages just to thank her.
People left comments on Kamira's profile picture on Facebook, sending gratitude from all over the country.
Kamira responded to all the love on Instagram before making her profile private — probably in response to all the overwhelming attention! However, she says the attention has been overwhelmingly positive, aside from the "regular trollage."
Other people are not just grateful but inspired. People have chimed in on Twitter to express that they hope to be just as brave as Kamira if they see a bilingual person being mistreated.
Others are feeling fired up and confident.
These incidents of harassment are incredibly (and unfortunately) common, as many people of color and immigrants can attest.
Kamira says she "would have done this for anyone who was being mistreated, and I would do it again if I ever see it again."
She encourages others to do the same: "Stand up and say something. Letting that happen is really what's wrong with our country."
You can check out the video of the encounter below.
What do you think of Kamira's brave and selfless interference?
