A black couple in Cypress, Texas, were left stunned after a trip to the store resulted in a racist note being left on their vehicle.
Marqueena and Kenneth Moore are both veterans of the U.S. Navy. The couple met while the pair was stationed in Japan. Kenneth served for 12 years, while his wife of 15 years, Marqueena, served for eight. During their deployments, the Moores suffered physical injuries as well as PTSD. Kenneth also has a traumatic brain injury that causes him to stutter.
“Going to stores can be, like, terrifying,” Kenneth Moore tells KHOU. Wednesday, July 11.
A recent trip to the local HEB turned out to be just that when the couple parked their car in an accessible parking space, went inside for groceries and returned to find a note on their vehicle.
“Just because you are black and have a nice car does not make you handicapped ;)” it read.
The Moores went back inside the supermarket and personnel helped them determine who left the note. Then, they called the Harris County Pct. 4 Constable’s Office; an investigation is now occurring.
Marqueena Moore said after discovering the note she felt “shocked, then actually, angry, because I’m like, the plates are right there! How do you not see?”
Afterward, the Moores took to their joint Facebook page to explain the incident online.
“My goal is to educate people , who have no idea what a Disabled Veteran plate means parked in a handicap parking spot,” Kenneth wrote in the post. “Texas law says my and other Disabled Veteran plates are my handicap plates … A Disabled Veteran plate means that person is at a minimum of 50% injured no matter their age, your personal opinion or perception is.”
Under Texas law, veterans are provided with special “disabled veteran” license plates and are allowed to “park in accessible parking spaces and may park for free at parking meters. Such plates need not show the international accessibility symbol,” reads the outline of the law on the website of the Office of the Texas Governor.
Those who glimpsed the Moores post shared overwhelmingly positive replies.
“I was greatly touched by the responses,” Kenneth Moore said. “I almost teared up a few times. It really touched me that deep.”
His wife added that not all disabilities are visible.
“You may not physically see their disability,” says Marqueena Moore. “But everyone wears their scars differently. You just have to simply go back to the Golden Rule: treating people how you want to be treated.”
