Son rebukes his racist dad who asked immigrant, 'Why didn't you stay in Mexico?'

It should be a sad day for any parent when your own son has to distance himself from you publicly. But in the case of Michigan dad Tom Burtell, I totally get where his kid is coming from. In a viral video, Burtell was shown interrupting a Mexican immigrant’s account of his son’s painful experience with racism to ask, “Then why didn't you stay in Mexico?" When Matt Burtell got wind of the profoundly insulting question his father asked at the Saline Area Schools community meeting Monday, the young man wasted no time distancing himself from his father via social media. 

“Today my father asked a deliberately racist question at the Saline Area Schools diversity and inclusion meeting,” he said in a Facebook post Monday. “His views of hate in no way represent my own. I stand in solidarity with the refugees and immigrants of the world.”

Saline Area Schools Superintendent Scot Graden also rejected the question as a representation of the district, which is about 10 miles south of Ann Arbor. “Hate, prejudice, and racism have no place in our schools or our community,” he said in a statement Tuesday. Graden also added: “This type of bigotry goes against all of the values and beliefs of our school system.”

Adrian Iraola, the man who was asked the racist question, actually answered the inquiry by explaining that he came to America “because this is the greatest country in the world.” 

"I felt the outrage, but my heart, my heart was immediately hurt,” Iraola later told CNN, “and the wounds reopened because of what I had experienced with my own children."

Iraola also told the news network his “blood was boiling” and he had to fight a desire to insult Tom Burtell. “But that is not the right response to this type of attack,” Iraola said. “The right response is to let people know, and hopefully they will open their minds that immigrants bring new things and they bring what makes this country great.” Iraola said although he has received threats following the incident, he decided to speak out because of the overwhelming support that also followed from people who stop him on the street. "They shake my hand, give me hugs, and many of them of all races cry on my shoulder, and I cry with them,” Iraola said. “This is a very painful moment, and we need to speak up against racism.”