"June 23. 2014
Letter Of Apology Per Condition Of Probation
To McDonalds of Central Sq. and Those Employed Therein
I E. Rachael Orban am apologizing for writing in sharpie pen on the side of the McDonalds located on Mass Ave in Central Sq. Cambridge, MA on the day of 2014.
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I had been harassed in that location over many years’ time by locals and employees. On that date of the incident a man named George Lopez who works at both Kenmore Sq location and Central Sq got my order wrong twice then told me in broken English that he couldn’t serve me if the order was wrong again. Upset by this, management made him apologize but he still blamed me the customer, which he did in Spanish to his manager.
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As a side note I was informed recently that Mr. Lopez is being forced to take English classes by his employer and that he has had to take anger management classes due to domestic disputes.
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I informed her to please speak to him about this sort of unacceptable harassment of customers. I had the receipts to prove that I was not at fault as well as what is documented on camera. She informed me that it would be useless to do this in front of me because it was going to be in Spanish.
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She seemed unsympathetic and unaffected. Recently an African American security guard was hired for this location- one of two males who perform this function. They don’t seem to have any training but merely be locals from the neighborhood with a preexisting relationship to the community and this location thus be in conflict with their ability to be impartial concerning their duties working with the public in this capacity.
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Weeks before I was harassed by the other male who does security in this location. I mentioned he was unprofessional. I was then verbally harassed by one of the locals who was his acquaintance. He said he would burn my house down and he seemed to be high on something. I informed him I did not have a home thus the back pack. He used this to further insult me then made issue of a bad front tooth I have, saying he could fix my black tooth. I countered this and left the conversation to avoid escalation.
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These security guards are not just asking people to leave after 20 minutes they are harassing people that are profiled as homeless or other ‘undesirables’ at the counter during ordering food as well as throughout said customer’s allotted time in the establishment while consuming what was purchased. Security at this location is understandable due to the high number of people in shelters in the immediate area one of which is a program for people who are active addicts and alcoholics.
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The police report said that I simply did not like the service and “nobody spoke any English”. This is untrue and I was questioned before being read my rights to remain silent which were read to me long after the arrest at the station during booking.
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I consider the people of Latino and African American ethnicity in that McDonalds specifically to be reverse racists as well as sexist and classist as they seem to harass and intimidate anyone who is of a lower class or appears houseless (profiling) regardless of if the person appears reasonable or not or of good character or bad.
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Weeks before the incident I tried to go through proper channels to rectify this situation by calling Chin management in Boston who according to the manager, runs the establishment. No one called me back even though I did not specify what I was called for.
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At the time of the incident I was also sleep deprived as I had been caring for an elderly homeless female with MS who used a walker. She was staying up all night long at restaurants in Harvard Square and I felt she needed a safe spot outside as well as companionship.
However she proved to be difficult and became dependent on me as if I were a paid caregiver. She also became very negative.
I also work on activism that is very difficult in nature to research as well as blog about and am writing an expose that many people in the local area are alarmed about being published.
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Thus I was under more pressure than usual, sleep deprived as well as I had been having health issues that were not getting resolved in a timely manner. This is not my usual state and the pressure was too great and I also had it with the harassment in that McDonalds as well as felt no one was listening as Chin management did not seem to care about their establishment and problems that might have arisen there.
Thus on that day I simply reacted out of a calmative effect of all these factors. I should have called a lawyer concerning the harassment or at least tried again to contact Chin management or gone there in person. Reacting as I did in a way I thought would be effective in finally getting someone to listen or see there was a problem has only given the system the opportunity to penalize me while COVERING UP that there is a problem in that location.
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I’m from a different generation and a different century where policemen used to actually resolve issues like this between parties or simply tell the offender to clean the graffiti and try to reconcile the situation. I am still getting used to the idea that laws are stricter and people aren’t interesting in improving things only making money and catering to those with means.
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Note that the racial content of what I wrote is what’s been focused on not the fact I referred to the employees as racist themselves. If I had not used racial slurs to refer to the employees in that location I would not be writing this letter.
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I apologize for using a method of solution that was not effective instead of continuing to go through proper channels to get the desired result- writing on the side of the establishment. I also apologize for utilizing racially charged language to describe the employees as a means of countering their reverse racism, classism and sexism.
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I’ve learned my lesson- next time I will simply get a lawyer when I feel I’ve been victimized and there is a significant amount of harassment of a vulnerable population/demographic."
Just wanted people who care about my side to see this. Harvard cops are kicking everyone out and telling them that no one is allowed to sleep in Harvard Sq anymore.
Im leaving.
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Hey hey dammit this is very inappropriate don;t you know those people are innocent little angels and you dared called them racist names.
ReplyDeleteThe crybabies really think we are guilty of trespass.
Hello Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI have serious doubts whether you ever receive my messages, or some of them, but I swear this is good advice. I have been forced to live without refrigerator, which has lead me to buy a rice cooker and due to illness, forced to cook rice as my main sustenance. I discovered that brown rice is so absorbent of toxins, and then I looked up brown rice diet on the internet and discovered it's an ancient form of fasting. You are without a home, and you carry a backpack around, but if you can manage it somehow to give yourself a place to store a rice cooker or cook brown rice and forego crap places like McDonalds, it would spare you the indecency of rude ignorant employees and help cleanse your system of toxins. It's also very inexpensive--