Welcome to another episode of an old white man telling us how it really is.
At least, how it is in his little racist head.
On Sunday, a Facebook user posted a video of a man who, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, decided to go on a racist rant to a cashier. According to the post, this happened in a WalMart (because of course it was WalMart) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.
She posted the video with the following statement:
“This happened to a friend who works at a Walmart in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She feels very scared since this incident. And I am wondering if Walmart will do anything to protect its employees of which a large number of minorities.
It is important that we speak up and share these kinds of experiences because only then will our allies know this kind of hate is real. What are your thoughts? Please share with others.
#walmart #racism #hate”
In the video, the man tells the cashier that he’s the one paying for “foreigners'” medical bills. He says:
” I go to work every day. I pay taxes. All of these foreigners are living off us good working white people.”
Though we never see the cashier, he does at one point say:
“You all should go to your own countries and fix up your own countries.”
… which leads me to believe that the cashier is likely not a white female.
Now, I’m sure this man was a racist asshole long before Donald Trump became the President of the United States. However, the fact remains that Trump’s election emboldened many people who’ve long harbored such racist feelings to be a lot more open about them.
Oh, and to address his point about working and paying taxes …
There was a piece published in US News & World Report last year which stated:
“Undocumented immigrants’ nationwide average effective tax rate is an estimated 8 percent. To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay an average nationwide effective tax rate of just 5.4 percent.”
And not only that, but all those billions that undocumented workers pay in taxes stay with the government, because you can’t file for things like Social Security when you’re undocumented.
And as far as going to work every day, the Washington Post published a piece several years ago in which they discussed the need for farm workers in North Carolina. The article’s title? “North Carolina needed 6,500 farm workers. Only 7 Americans stuck it out.”
So just stop it with the “I pay taxes” and “I pay for them” crap.
Personally, I’m happy to contribute to the general welfare of the people living here, regardless of their citizenship status.
But that requires seeing everyone around you as a human being.
Featured image via screenshot from Facebook video
