They opened a Haitian food truck. Then they were told, 'Go back to your own country,' lawsuit says
The owners of a Haitian food truck are suing a small town in Virginia over allegations that a town council member cut the food truck's water line and screamed, ‘Go back to your own country
PARKSLEY, Va. — A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region's growing Haitian community.
When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.
But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”
“When we first opened, there were a lot of people" ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then… they started harassing us.”
A federal lawsuit claims the town passed a food truck ban that targeted the couple, then threatened them with fines and imprisonment when they raised concerns. They're being represented by the Institute for Justice, a law firm that described a “string of abuses” in the historic railroad town of about 800 people.
“If Theslet and Clemene were not of Haitian descent, Parksley’s town government would not have engaged in this abusive conduct,” the lawsuit states.
The town council is pushing back through a law firm it hired, Pender & Coward, which said its own investigation found many allegations “simply not true.”
The couple failed to apply for a conditional use permit and chose to sue instead, the law firm countered. It said the council
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