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Journalism of Courage
During the run-up to US elections, President-elect Donald Trump made sure people criticised him for being racist, xenophobic and sexist. He had said he is against immigrants in the United States; he had said he’d ban Muslims from the country, not forgetting his controversial ‘grabbing women’ comment from the past. Well, he will now lead America to greatness, starting January 20, 2017.
According to a New York Times report, minorities like Hispanics, African-Americans and Muslims are feeling threatened already. Reportedly, people from the community have started getting death threats on social media and even out in the open. “I don’t fear Trump as much as I fear the monster he’s awakened. It feels like he’s normalized discrimination, and I’m afraid it’s open season,” Aysha Choudhary, a Muslim American told NYT.
An Indian based out of America, Manik Rathee, also took to Twitter to share his horrifying experience on Day 1 after Trump won the US elections. According to his tweets that have gone viral, Rathee was stopped at a gas station and told by a group of guys to get out of the country. “As I’m stopped at a gas station this morning, a group of guys yell over: “Time to get out of this country, Apu!”Day 1.,” he tweeted.
His tweet went viral with over 26000 retweets, at the time of writing.
But the man didn’t bow down and took it head on. “man, im a light-skinned indian guy. i’m not a small dude. I dress in professional work attire. I speak english. This is our America now. American racism has been emboldened.” he wrote.
https://twitter.com/ManikRathee/status/796408766518292480
https://twitter.com/ManikRathee/status/796411661233991681
https://twitter.com/ManikRathee/status/796411667286343680
He wasn’t the only one facing such a situation. After Rathee, a lot of people shared similar experiences. “Last week a neighbor asked me what’s my legal status and why I am living here. So, you get the picture,” wrote a user.
https://twitter.com/sairakh/status/796503098160246784
https://twitter.com/rosehaIsey/status/796255228190261248
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