Racial tensions around the country are high. It makes it very difficult, and even dangerous, for people of color going about their everyday business. For a landscaper working in Rancho Mirage, California, these tensions translated into him being harassed.
Juan Andrade has worked for a landscaping company for the last 10 years. He was working on a yard in a 55-plus affordable housing complex when one of the residents approached him. Juan was familiar with the woman, who had previously approached him. On a previous occasion, she demanded that he "go back to his country."
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This time, Juan filmed the woman. She is seen blowing him a kiss before physically standing in the way of Juan doing his work. Then she begins to demand that he show her his "papers." Juan asks her to move because of her close proximity and lack of mask, but she continues her harassment. Now the local Housing Authority was investigating the incident and the woman the internet has dubbed "Rancho Mirage Karen."
Juan Andrade has worked in the Rancho Mirage neighborhood of California as a landscaper for over a decade. Juan was working at a 55-plus affordable housing community when one of the residents began harassing him.
"It's usually been about the work, but never to instigate or harass me," he told NBC Palm Springs.
Juan did have a history with this woman, however. Three months earlier, she disrupted his work to tell him to "go back to his country." This time, she snuck up on him while he was mowing the apartment complex's lawn.
"Like any other complex I was just doing the work for all of them, mowing the lawn. I passed by her apartment and when I turned around to do the second round that's when I saw her standing," Juan explained.
This time, he caught the woman and her antics on video.
In the clip, the woman is seen blowing Juan a kiss as she notices he's recording. Then she physically blocks his way. He asks her to move, noting that she's very close to him and not wearing a mask.
"Can you move out of my work area?" he pleads. "And can you stay away, you're too close to me right now and you're not wearing a mask."
He asks her to move again, and she finally replies. "Can you show me your papers?" she asks.
Again, Juan asks her to move. "No, no. Show me your papers," she continues. He doesn't stop asking her to move.
"No, I want to see your papers."
"You wanna see my papers?" Juan replies, getting irritated. "You immigration?"
The woman continues to stare at Juan. "Show me your papers, mariposa."
Mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly. Many believe she chose to use that word because it is also a slur for gay men in Spanish, but it is reportedly the name of the landscaping company.
"When she was harassing me, I started to feel mad because I was just doing my work," Juan said. He reported the incident to his employer. He said that he will avoid the area moving forward.
"Based on what I have seen from her. I think she thinks she didn't do anything wrong," he said. "She believes she's in the right, so I don't think she'll ever apologize."
Juan's footage of the incident quickly went viral. Megan Beaman Jacinto, an immigration lawyer in the Coachella Valley, agreed with Juan's assessment that the woman thought she was doing nothing wrong.
"Unless you are law enforcement, but aside from that, they are using that conversation as just another way to intimidate and create objects out of human beings who appear to be different from them," she said.
City Attorney Steve Quintanilla also became aware of the video. He has announced that he and Housing Authority Manager Marcus Aleman will investigate the matter.
"The Rancho Mirage Housing Authority has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and the harassment of anyone, including other tenants, visitors, guests and contracted vendors conducting work at its affordable senior housing properties," they said in a statement.
Internet sleuths have taken matters into their own hands. They believe they've identified the woman as Anna Marie Driscoll. They've contacted the Housing Authority, as well as employers they've connected to her, to condemn her behavior.
