A Southern California political candidate lost her day job after a video she posted online of her berating a stranger for having a Mexican flag went viral.
Last month, Fontana City Council candidate Tressy Capps was driving by the Banuelos family home in Ontario when she pulled over to complain about something she considered “disrespectful.”
"You know we live in America, right? This is the United States," Capps says in the video, which she shot and posted to YouTube. "So why are you flying your Mexican flag in your front yard?"
After the video went viral, Capps lost her associate job with real estate giant Coldwell Banker.
"We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind," David Siroty of Coldwell Banker Real Estate said in a statement. "We hold our affiliated companies to high ethical standards. Each of our franchised companies is independently owned and operated and we fully support the local owner's decision to disassociate this independent agent from the brokerage firm and, by extension, our franchise system."
Maria Banuelos told NBC4 sister station Telemundo 52 that she doesn't feel the flag on her lawn should bother anyone because it’s on her own property. The family said they’ve waved a Mexican flag in their front yard for 13 years and a neighbor said she has often seen both U.S. and Mexico flags outside the residence.
"The flag is in their yard. The flag is not bothering nobody," a neighbor told NBC4. "Leave them alone. Leave them alone. That's what I felt."
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In the video posted by Capps, text appears on the screen that suggests the Banuelos family was violating codes and would face fines. Ontario City Attorney John Brown disputed that claim by issuing the following statement:
"The City of Ontario takes great pride in being one of the most ethnically and racially diverse cities in Southern California. Many of our residents also take great pride in both honoring and celebrating their, or their relatives' countries of origin. Those expressions of ethnic and racial diversity take many forms throughout our City, and the City has always taken the position that such speech is absolutely protected by the both the United States and California Constitutions."
NBC4 reached out to Capps for comment, but had not heard from her as of Wednesday night. Capps told Telemundo 52 that she apologizes.
