*Attacks on Mexican food vendors are on the rise
Police arrested a woman on robbery charges after attacking a taco vendor south of Los Angeles. She was booked and held on $60,000 bail.
It is very common to see street food stalls in South Los Angeles, especially serving Mexican food or one of its fusions, places that are often run by and owned by men and women who are looking to earn an honest income but who are undocumented.
However, in the last year, it has also been common for people who run these types of places to be attacked for no apparent reason, but with racist connotations underneath.
Recently, customers of the South Tacos Stand on the corner of Slauson and Normandie avenues witnessed the assault of a woman who, after investigation by the police, was identified as India Duerson, 30, to the vendor Bertha Zuniga, who was working at the stand.
The video shows the attacker throwing sauces, vegetables and containers full of food, as well as barrels of horchata, onto the floor, in addition to spitting on all the other food that she was unable to throw away.
After that, he went after one of the workers - Bertha - whom he pushed and pulled, which is why people called the emergency services to request police support, who, according to workers at the site, arrived almost an hour after the incident.
According to an interview conducted by CBS Los Angeles, although she was nervous to speak out, Zuniga said the woman began destroying her place after ordering a burrito and being asked by workers to wait until they were fully set up.
"It's just that you don't know, sometimes I get nervous because you don't know what they're going to do or what's going to happen," Bertha said.
For his part, chef and street vendor advocate Jimmy Saucez said that because many of these workers are undocumented, "they are afraid to speak out. That's why they are being attacked, because they feel like they won't say anything."
He said police may be overwhelmed with everything going on in the area, "but I wish they would respond a little quicker. At the end of the day, if it's a robbery, it's a robbery. If it's a mugging, it's a mugging. They should be there as soon as possible."
Attacks on such establishments have increased over the past year, said employees of the taco and burrito stand that has been in the same location for more than 12 years.
This incident follows the case of a man who attacked a Long Beach tamale vendor and was recorded yelling anti-Mexican slurs at him earlier this month.
The vendor, Juan Aguilar, said the man yelling at him, who neighbors later identified, walked aggressively toward him with his fists clenched. That's when Aguilar began recording and later had his wife, Luz, upload the video to social media where it went viral.
Aguilar said he presented an official report of hate incident to the Los Angeles Police Department, and said that what happened has not discouraged him. He stressed that he will continue selling tamales and will work hard so that one day he can open a traditional restaurant or a distribution company.
In both cases, the community has been overwhelmingly supportive, with the taco stand seeing many more people since the incident, while Aguilar has seen massive tamale sales, selling up to two thousand tamales in one day.
With information from CBS Los Angeles.
This publication was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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