Photo courtesy of Graccxx/ Instagram.
An Asian man told a Black student to go back to his country in a racist rant on TikTok after the man became upset that the student wasn’t wearing his mask, according to the Daily Dot.
In the video, the Asian man began yelling at his daughter’s roommate’s boyfriend at the University of Pittsburgh about COVID-19 and speaking English. The man was upset because the boyfriend did not have his mask on inside the dorm room.
The roommate posted the video to TikTok with a caption.
“My roommate’s dad harassing my boyfriend for not wearing a mask in my own room.”
The video began after the altercation was already in motion.
The man yelled “Because you didn’t wear a mask!”
The student tried to respond but was cut off by the man telling him to close his mouth.
“Close your mouth! Wear a mask!”
The man asked if the student spoke English, to which the student sarcastically replied, “naw,” prompting the man to scold him for not understanding the language. The man pounded on his chest as he noted that he was from another country, but he spoke English.
“Okay, you don’t speak English, then you should go back to your country! I don’t know where you’re from! I’m from Hong Kong! I know English!”
At one point, the student then asked his girlfriend if he was being punked.
“Is this a joke right now?”
The man then challenged the student to a fight.
“Show me who you are! COME ON! I’m so scared!”
The student was shocked but remained calm as he asked the roommate if the man was seriously trying to fight him before he said that he would not be fighting the man.
The woman who recorded the video also noted that her roommate’s mom tried to stop her from recording her husband’s rant. She also defended her parents and mentioned her roommate had been treating her badly, which could have set her father off.
@graccxxshare this shit ##fyp ##foryou♬ original sound – grace
Regardless, TikTok users commented on the video, and the general consensus was that the man was clearly out of order for his racist statements. Several commenters commended the student for remaining so calm during the incident. Others were ashamed of the man’s behavior.
“As part of the Asian community, we don’t claim him.”
Anti-Blackness from the Asian community is nothing new in the country. A six-year-old Michigan boy was shot in the arm by his neighbor, Ryan Le-Nguyen, after the boy was getting his bike he’d left on Nguyen’s lawn. Another man in Oregon threatened Black people with a knife while yelling racial slurs at them back in July.
The roommate said that she recorded the incident to prove what happened to the campus police. Hopefully, one of the girls can change dorm rooms.