Oh boy, not again.

Another overtly racist incident, another restaurant, another video. This time at Denny’s in Lethbridge, Alta.

And worse, a response that appears to justify the racism, this one from an NDP MLA. The targets of hate say they were also asked to leave the restaurant.

In a video posted late Tuesday night to Facebook by Calgary resident Monir Omerzai, and which has already been viewed more than 100,000 times, a white woman is seen turning in her seat in her booth, unleashing an abusive tirade at what appear to be four men in a conversation that gets increasingly heated.

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Video of woman telling group of men they’re ‘not Canadian’ at an Alberta Denny’s goes viral

“You’re dealing with a Canadian woman right now and I will leap across this table and punch you in the f--ing mouth,” she says. “Ignorant prick.”

Then the inevitable: “Go back to your own f--ing country. We don’t need you here.”

“You’re not Canadian,” she tells them. “No, you’re not Canadian.”

“Yes, we’re all Canadian,” says a male voice, now placed in a position of having to stake his humanity. “You’re a human being, I’m a human being. There’s nothing special about you.”

“No you’re not Canadian,” she keeps saying as he speaks, as if saying it often enough would make it true.

“Do you pay taxes here, my friend?” she asks.

“F--ing of course I pay taxes,” says the male voice. Omerzai confirmed to me it was him.

“Really?” she says. “You pay our taxes?”

At one point she hauls herself up on her knees. “You’re not dealing with one of your Syrian bitches right now. You’re dealing with a Canadian woman, and I’m not going to be talked down to like that.”

The men are not Syrian. Omerzai is an immigrant of 13 years from Afghanistan who says he has his own business.

“I am a good immigrant,” he says. “I do pay taxes. I do work hard.”

It’s shameful that a newcomer is put in a place where he feels he has to justify his character.

What triggered this racist tirade?

When a Denny’s staffer comes to find out what’s wrong, we get a clue.

“I didn’t do anything,” she says. “He’s eyeing me up. I turned around and he glared at me.”

The woman identified by Lethbridge News Now as Kelly Pocha from Cranbrook, B.C., told the news site the men “were kind of talking to each other in their own language and then they all started laughing at me.”

“We were speaking in our own language,” Omerzai tells me. “Talking about ... playing video games. And some parts were funny, so we were laughing. This lady looked at us two or three times. My friend was sitting across from me. I did not see him glare at her. She thought we were talking about her and that’s how the whole thing exploded.”

In the video, one of the men says something that completely sets her off.

“Why are you being so racist?” he asks.

“Ooh, all of a sudden I’m being racist,” she says, her hands in the air and clapping. “I am Canadian so I am racist.

“You guys need to go back to where you came from.”

Then a man says, “OK, we gonna call the cops I think.”

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Lethbridge Police confirmed police were called to Denny’s at the time.

“To my understanding customers were gone prior to police arrival,” said Sgt. Cam Van Roon, executive officer for the Lethbridge Police Service, internal communications and community representation.

But that isn’t confirmed yet. “We’re trying to hold off until we figure everything out,” he said.

At Denny’s in Lethbridge, Alta., a man who came to the phone after I asked to speak to the manager confirmed an incident happened a month ago. When asked to elaborate, he said, “You can see from the video.” He would not give any more details. He would not say whom in the head office I could call. Our call, which lasted three minutes, ended with him saying he would call the police if I continued to ask him questions.

Later Wednesday, a corporate statement by Denny’s read, in part: “Based on our initial internal investigation, it appears our manager followed proper protocol but was unable to de-escalate the situation, and thus contacted local law enforcement.”

Omerzai’s account of what happened next is infuriating. The woman went off to a different table.

“The waitress apologizes to her,” Omerzai said. “She did not say anything to us.”

“The police said for us to leave. They said there is no criminal code for racism, for being yelled at.”

“Manager says you guys cannot stay here. You have to pack your food and pay.”

“We said we’re not paying, we’re not eating either. Thank you for having us here.”

Whatever else we may say after watching the video, please let’s not say, “This is not Canada.” Or, “this isn’t the real Canada.” Or, worse, that she’s mentally ill.

This is Canada. Racism isn’t the whole of who we are, but it is definitely part of our character both systemically and individually. It’s past time to be surprised by it. And mental illness does not make people racist.

Among all the racism-has-no-place-in-Canada responses from politicians, witness this victim-blaming response from an MLA, a New Democrat MLA no less — the party that is supposed to be on the side of the downtrodden.

“She was definitely not right and was saying horrible bigoted things,” tweeted Stephanie McLean. “That being said — (am) I hearing right? At the beginning of the video does the man on the left say to her “you ask to speak”. Then says something about her mother? ...”

First, nothing is said about anybody’s mother. A man says something like, “it doesn’t matter.”

Second, does any kind of argument warrant a racist attack? “Speaking in a foreign language,” indeed.

A foreign language, a foreign accent, a foreign skin colour — how many divisive ways can we mark otherness?

“Speak English or don’t speak at all,” the woman tells them towards the end of the video.

“I am embarrassed to learn that this incident happened in Lethbridge,” Chris Spearman, Mayor of Lethbridge, said in a statement. “We are working hard to address racism and bigotry but can not prevent ignorance and the hostile behaviour of individuals.”

On Wednesday, Cranbrook Dodge dealership fired her. “We are deeply concerned about the content of this video.... The employee in question has been terminated and we deeply apologize for her actions.”

Shree Paradkar writes about discrimination and identity. You can follow her @shreeparadkar

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