A black veteran says he was refused a free Veterans Day meal at Chili's after a man wearing a shirt supporting President-elect Donald Trump called his military service into question.
On Friday, Ernest Walker visited a Chili's in Cedar Hill, Texas, planning to partake in the chain's offer of a free meal for military veterans, CBS 11 reports.
Walker said everything was normal as he ordered his food. Then, he was approached by a man who questioned his military service.
"I was approached by an old white guy, maybe in his 70s, with a Trump Shirt, at Chili's on Veteran's Day yesterday ... He said he was in Germany, and that they did not let Blacks serve over there," Walker wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Walker told Dallas News he was stationed in Hawaii in the 25th Infantry Division during the late 1980s. Black soldiers have fought in every American war since the Revolutionary War, including World War II, though often in segregated units.
Walker said that as he prepared to leave with a to-go box of food, he was approached by the manager of the Chili's location, Wesley Patrick. Walker said Patrick told him that another customer had reported he was not a real veteran and that his dog, who was with him at the restaurant, was not an actual service dog.
"At this point I was grossly offended embarrassed dehumanized and started Recording," Walker, whose name on Facebook is Ernest Blackbatman, wrote in a post accompanying a video that he recorded. "Mr. Wesley snatched my food away, made body contact."
In the video, Patrick repeatedly tells Walker he needs to leave, eventually taking away his to-go box of food.
Walker said in another Facebook post that he joined the military when he was only 16 years old, at a time when he was homeless and sleeping behind a Kroger.
Over the weekend, Walker's Facebook post was shared more than 5,000 times. The Facebook and Twitter accounts of Chili's were flooded with criticism.
"You allow racism among your management staff? I find it hard to believe that your executives would be okay with this behavior," one comment said. "I love your restaurants, I've dined at dozens and dozens of your locations. Now please ... so people feel safe next time they eat at a Chilis."
—S. Maxx Mahaffey (@smaxxmahaffey) November 14, 2016—Demond Gooch (@dsgooch40) November 14, 2016—MsEbonyTheTeacher (@ebonynichole) November 13, 2016—Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) November 13, 2016"I will certainly not be dining at Chili's Grill and Bar while they remain silent on hiring racist or bigoted staff who assault African-American veterans," another said.
On Monday, Chili's announced the chain had apologized to Walker and removed the manager from the restaurant.
"Today, we personally apologized to Mr. Walker for the unfortunate experience in our restaurant on Veterans Day and thanked him for his service to our country," Kelli Valade, Chili's president, said in a statement. "We also thanked him for taking the time to speak with us and he appreciated our apology... We took swift action and immediately removed our manager from the restaurant. We are now in the process of working with Mr. Walker on a resolution that promotes trust and healing."
The US has seen a rise in racially motivated attacks after Trump was elected president on Tuesday. Representatives from two organizations that track hate crimes, the Southern Povery Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told USA Today that they had seen a much larger number of people reporting hate crimes than was typical since the general election.
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