Texas restaurant attacked with racist graffiti after owner speaks out against Republican governor

A ramen restaurant in Texas has been subjected to racist vandalism after its owner spoke out against a Republican governor’s decision to lift Covid-19 restrictions on CNN.

Horrible images show Mike Nguyen’s shop windows emblazoned with red spray-painted slogans such as “hope u die”, “kung flu”, “commie”, “no mask” and “ramen noodle flu”. “Go back 2 China” had also been sprayed across the restaurant’s exterior bench.

His ramen restaurant Noodle Tree is a much-loved eatery local to the University of Texas at San Antonio boulevard. Nguyen, who is half Vietnamese and half French, built the restaurant from the ground up after starting out as a popular food truck.

“I’m still a little shocked that this would actually happen,” Nguyen said. “When I got here, that’s when it actually sunk in”.

Nguyen has spoken to the press several times about his disagreements with Governor Greg Abbott’s Covid-19 strategy. This began when he refused to open his dining area up to customers despite Abbott’s advise to do so.

In his latest interview - which took place just days before the graffiti - saw him call the Governor’s controversial decision to lift the mandate on compulsory mask-wearing “selfish” and “cowardly”.

“Dropping the mask mandate will not help the economy, it will not help us open and a lot of us feel that he’s putting a lot of us in danger”.

He is currently fighting lymphoma, which compromises his immune system considerably, and has lost a grandparent to Covid-19. Noodle Tree stayed closed for the first six months of the pandemic and only re-opened due to mounting financial pressures.

He acknowledged his initial hesitance to speak further on Covid-19 policy matters, fearing that he could be on the receiving end of backlash like this.

The FBI warned Americans this time last year that the pandemic would see an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes. Support coalition Stop AAPI Hate revealed it received 2,800 accounts of abuse last year, a “stark reminders that urgent action must be taken” to protect America’s Asian communities.

The majority of documented anti-Asian abuse is verbal, but alarmingly 6 per cent of reports found the victim was spat on or coughed at.

Nguyen has since received masses of support from the local community and intends to keep the restaurant open for business.

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