Since the election, there have been hundreds of recorded incidents of racial hatred and violence. And by that I mean that white people feel empowered to spew hatred (and at times, violent hatred) towards minorities and people within marginalized communities. Everything from sh-t being thrown at Muslim-Americans, to watermelons being smeared on African-Americans’ property, to simple, garden-variety racial hatred and animosity. While Trump supporters can claim that their vote doesn’t mean that they’re racist, misogynistic bullies, bigots and predators, their Trump votes have empowered every racist, every misogynist, every bigot and every predator in this country.
Which brings me to this story. Kumail Nanjiani and Thomas Middleditch are costars on the popular HBO show Silicon Valley. They are friends outside of work too, and after work one night after the election, they went a nearby bar for a drink. And this is what happened, according to Kumail (who is Pakistani-American). He tweeted:
Was at a bar last night with @Middleditch. At the end of the night, 2 white dudes, 20’s, who’d been there for hours came up to us.
“We’re big fans of you guys. (To Thomas) I trolled you on twitter yesterday.” He goes on to say how we’re wrong about Trump. I go “Hey we don’t wanna discuss politics right now.” His friends goes “oh they’re cucks.” Then starts yelling at us. “CUCKS CUCKS CUCKS!” He starts getting in my face. Thomas puts his hand on the dude’s chest to stop him. “Don’t touch me you cuck. Wanna go outside?”
At this point, the bouncer runs over, grabs them, kicks them out. The bartender is awesome & apologetic. Thomas & I are stunned.
This happened at a bar in LA surrounded by ppl. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be someone who looks like me in other parts.
We can’t let hate/racism/bigotry/sexism be normalized. If something happens, be safe, but let it be known we won’t stand for this. Many ppl are like “just cuz I voted for Trump doesn’t mean I’m racist/sexist.” Ok, but at best, you ignored it, you overlooked it. We thought Internet would give us access to ppl w different points of view. Instead it gives us access to many ppl w the same point of view.
I like the ppl that don’t believe me, as if I’m like “it’s great that I’m on an HBO show but my true passion is to be yelled at in a bar.”
Thomas Middleditch tweeted about the incident too, backing up Kumail’s story completely, tweeting: “Out with @kumailn; for no reason two dudes came at us with Trump right wing sh-t, calling us “cucks”. Never in my life. I hate this. Week 1.” And in case you were anything like me and you’re not down with Alt-Right lingo, “cuck” is an Alt-Right (aka “Neo Nazi”) slang term for “cuckservative.”
We’ve spent a lot of time in the past few years talking about white spaces, minority experiences, white privilege and what it feels like to be told, in so many words, that you are not welcome, that you don’t belong, and that you are not safe. This is what Donald Trump’s elevation to the presidency has done though – he’s pushed all of those conversations into the mainstream, he’s made that conversation a daily one as every hate-filled a—hole now feels “empowered” to “take back their country.” We will absolutely be hearing more and more of these stories in the days, weeks, months and years to come. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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