Minnesota couple wears swastika masks at Walmart and rants about socialism, gets banned for causing disturbance
MARSHALL, MINNESOTA: A cellphone footage of an old couple has gone viral on social media that showed them wearing swastika face masks at a Walmart store in Marshall, Minnesota. The video posted on Facebook by vicar Raphaela Mueller showed the couple wearing bandana masks that bore the giant designs of swastikas on it while paying for their purchases at the cash counter.
A man who was not shown in the video footage confronted the couple and can be heard telling them, “You're sick. You have an illness, you can't be American and wear that mask.” And as the man spoke, the woman seen in the clip wearing the swastika mask raised her arms up into the air in a “ta-da!” gesture before flashing her middle fingers at the camera. The old man accompanying the woman also raised his arms into the air, before going back to putting items onto the conveyor belt for billing.
“We literally had a war about this,” the man who was not on camera was heard saying while the woman with the swastika face mask strolls over. Another man who was off-camera heard saying, “My grandfather killed Nazis.” The woman was then heard justifying her offensive act as she said she’s not a Nazi, and added “socialism is going to happen here in America” and that “If you vote for Biden, this is what we're going to have, socialism!”
Mueller then posted the whole incident on her Facebook page and wrote: “I was born and raised in Germany, and I grew up hearing about my great-grandmother who fought in the underground against the first wave of Nazis in the 1930s and 40s. Let me make this abundantly clear once and for all - THE SWASTIKA IS A HATE SYMBOL AND YOU DO NOT FLY THE FLAG, YOU DO NOT WEAR THE SYMBOL ANYWHERE ON YOUR BODY, YOU DO NOT USE OR DEFEND THIS SYMBOL, EVER. END OF STORY.”
The vicar also said that when she complained about the couple to the store manager, he said “he didn't have the power to keep them out, regardless of what mask they were wearing.” She said that she even intended to call the customer care service and “work my way as far to the top of the food chain as I can.” “They won't (shouldn't?) allow people without face masks now that their new rule is in effect, offensive masks should be in the same category as no masks,” Mueller added.
Meanwhile, Marshall PD said they were called to the scene around noon on Saturday, July 25. They were told that the 59-year-old man and the 64-year-old woman’s use of imagery associated with Nazi iconography employed during WWII were offensive to other shoppers at the store, and they were creating a disturbance. Marshall PD Sergeant Jason Buysse said his department issued the couple with a notice of trespass.
While on Saturday evening, Walmart also issued a statement that read: “What happened today at our store in Marshall, MN is unacceptable. We strive to provide a safe and comfortable shopping environment for all our customers and will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any aspect of our business. We are asking everyone to wear face coverings when they enter our stores for their safety and the safety of others and it’s unfortunate that some individuals have taken this pandemic as an opportunity to create a distressing situation for customers and associates in our store.” The retail company also said that the trespassing notice issued to the couple bans them from visiting any Walmart store for at least a year.