CYPRESS, Texas — A Cypress couple who are both disabled veterans were shocked when someone put a racist note on their car while they shopped at an HEB.
Marqueena and Kenneth Moore are dedicated to each other and to country. They met while they were stationed with the U.S. Navy in Japan and have been married for 15 years.
Kenneth served for 12 years and Marqueena served for 8. During that time, they deployed several times and were also injured.
“It has been amazing,” Kenneth Moore said about his time in the military, “but it does take a toll on your body mentally and physically.”
Both say they have physical injuries, including a traumatic brain injury for Kenneth which has led to a stutter. The Moores also struggle with PTSD.
“Going to a store can be terrifying,” Kenneth said.
Tuesday’s trip to a Cypress HEB didn’t help. They parked in a disabled spot, went shopping then came out to find a note that read, “just because you are black and have a nice car does not make you handicapped ;).”
“(I was) Shocked,” Marquenna Moore said. “Then actually angry, because I’m like, the plates are right there! How do you not see?”
The Moores have a plate that identifies them as disabled veterans. They don’t have a handicapped placard that hangs from their mirror. These license plates can be easily identified because they contain the letters DV and say “Disabled Veteran U.S. Armed Forces” along the bottom.
According to the Texas DMV, in order to qualify for the plates, a person must be “Certified by the Veterans Administration to have a 50 percent service-related disability, or 40 percent due to amputation of a lower extremity.”
After the Moores found the note, they returned to HEB and said the store helped them figure out who left the note. They then called the Harris County Pct. 4 Constable's Office who is now investigating.
The Moores also posted about what happened online, hoping to educate others about disabled veterans and the plates. The post generated hundreds of kind comments.
“I was greatly touched by the responses,” Kenneth Moore said. “I almost teared up a few times. It really touched me that deep.”
The Moores also hope to remind people that a disability is not always visible from the outside.
“You may not physically see their disability,” Marqueena Moore said. "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.”
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