A woman in Texas who racially abused a group of Indian-American women in 2022 has been convicted on charges of hate crime. According to NBC News, Esmeralda Upton, 59, was convicted on Friday of three misdemeanour assault charges and one misdemeanour charge of terroristic threat. Each charge includes a state hate crime enhancement, alleging that the 59-year-old chose the victims based on her bias and prejudice against their race and national origin, the outlet reported.
This comes nearly 2 years after Esmeralda Upton was accused of attacking four Indian-American women outside a restaurant in Dallas, Texas. During the altercation, she made racist comments, attempted to hit the women and told them to "go back to India". The victims recorded the incident on their phones, and the video soon went viral.
"All these Indians, come to America for a better life. ...You come to our country and want everything for free. I am a Mexican-American and I was born here," the woman said while hurling abuse towards four Indian-American women. She even continued to pass racial remarks even after cops arrived on the scene. She was subsequently arrested on state charges and later pleaded guilty to the four charges.
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On Friday, the 59-year-old was sentenced to two years of community supervision probation and 40 days confinement in the Collin County Jail for each of the cases, served concurrently. "As Americans, we should all be able to enjoy our constitutional liberties, free and secure from this type of racially motivated assault," said Greg Willis, Collin County district attorney, per NBC News.
Speaking to the outlet, one of the victims, Anamika Chatterjee, read a statement before the sentencing, describing the deep impact the attack had on her and her family. "My American-born children look like Indians. Because of your hatred and attack, I am now constantly scared for them," Ms Chatterjee said.
"That's the worst effect of what you did to me-that constant worry and anxiety. It continues to astonish me that a person with a minority background like yourself-which you bragged about during the incident-would behave like this, without a trace of shame," she added.
