An Asian shop owner in Delray Beach politely asked three interlopers to leave. What happened next, he said, was unacceptable: Anti-Asian slurs started flying.
“Take your f—ing Chinese flu & shove it up your a–!” a well-dressed, bespectacled white man shouted at him.
Louis Grayson, owner of Ramen Lab Eatery at 25 Northeast 2nd Ave., said his restaurant was closing at the time. Three men walked up with pizza from a neighboring business and unstacked the chairs and plopped down. A waitress nicely told them they should leave, and that’s when the profanity started.
Grayson walked out and asked the men to move along.
“He asked where I’m from and I said, ‘I’m from here.’ They said, “No, you’re from China. You’re a chink.’ My family’s from Thailand.”
The men left when Grayson’s staff called the police.
The 30-year-old shop owner said anti-Asian rhetoric has escalated with the dawn of the coronavirus but added that he has experienced it all his life.
Grayson recorded the incident and posted it on social media.
“We stand against any type of racism, harassments and discrimination,” the Instagram post said. “ … Unfortunately, this situation was very heart breaking and will not break our spirits.”
