Woman squares off with couple wearing Nazi regalia at Holocaust memorial
A brave woman told off a couple wearing swastika armbands and giving the Nazi salute at a Holocaust memorial.
On April 11th, Sondra Pierson, 47, a bookkeeper from Rhode Island was meeting friends for drinks at the Parkside Rotisserie & Bar in Providence when she saw a couple across the street wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, swastika armbands, and “White Lives Matter” pins, as first reported by the Providence Journal. Looking closer, Pierson saw swastikas tattoos in place of his eyebrows.
“I said, ‘Am I actually seeing this?’” Pierson tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “People around me said the same thing. I took their photo almost to convince myself it was happening.”
The couple walked into the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial dedicated partly to the state’s last living survivors. “I was furious — I grabbed my coat and said, ‘Oh hell no,’” Pierson tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “My friends yelled at me to come back.”
When Pierson reached the memorial site, she saw the couple leaning against statues and laughing. “They were taking pictures of each other and giving the Nazi salute,” she says.
According to Pierson, she said, ‘What the f*** do you think you’re doing? How dare you,” and the woman sarcastically replied, “Thank you so much, I so appreciate your input...let me guess — you’re Jewish?”
“I said, ‘I’m not, just a decent human being,’” Pierson tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
Teens who were skateboarding overheard and filmed the couple. “The woman dared them to put the videos on YouTube,” says Pierson. “Then they went to the World War II Memorial.”
Pierson says she made two 911 calls and read the license plate number of the couple’s white Cadillac to the operator. “Two police cars drove by but they didn’t stop,” she says.
During after-hours, Yahoo Lifestyle reached out to the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Providence Police Department but did not hear back.
“I don’t like confrontation but when you see something so reprehensible, you have to stand up,” Pierson tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “It’s not brave, just a natural reaction.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Woman wearing MAGA hat is harassed at post office: 'Your president is racist'
Mom claims son was shamed during school lesson on segregation
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