The mother of a two-year-old boy claims that her son was assaulted
in a Florida Wal-Mart for wearing a pink headband.
In
a blog post titled What Happened When My Son Wore a Pink
Headband to Walmart, Katie Vyktoriah wrote that an “overly
large” man slapped her son Dexter on the head and called him a
“faggot.”
“As we passed thorough the produce section, two teenage girls
began giggling and one of them asked, 'Is that a boy or a girl?' I
smiled and said, 'He's a boy.'”
“Out of nowhere a big booming voice rang out. 'THAT'S A BOY?!'
The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage
shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work
boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke
surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.”
“'Yes,' I said simply, still smiling.”
“With no notice, the man stepped forward, grabbed the headband
off of Dexter's head and threw it to the bottom of our shopping cart.
He then cuffed Dexter around the side of his head (not hard, but
that is not the point) and said with a big laugh, 'You'll thank me
later, little man!'”
“At the same time as I stepped forward, Dexter grabbed his head
where the man had smacked him and threw his other hand forward,
stomping his foot and shouting, 'NO!' I got between my son and this
man and said very firmly, 'If you touch my son again, I will cut your
damn hands off.'”
“The guy snarled at me, looked at Dexter with disgust and said,
'Your son is a f*cking fa***t.' He then started sauntering out, but
not before he threw over his shoulder, 'He'll get shot for it one
day.'”
Vyktoriah lamented that none of the witnesses came to her aid.
In
a Facebook post, Vyktoriah said that she received threats online
after she posted her story and that she has filed a complaint with
the Polk County Sheriff's Office.