Trump shares video of black man punching white employee at a Macy's store, asks 'where are the protesters?'
It’s a season of racial clashes in the US. In the middle of relentless protests over the brutal killings of black Americans like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, incidents of colored people attacking their white counterparts have also made the headlines. And now, none other than President Donald Trump ended up mocking the protesters after such an incident from Flint, Michigan, has come to the fore.
On Tuesday, June 22, Trump responded to a tweet posted by Matt Walsh, a religious right, who has been vocal over the issue. “Looks what’s going on here. Where are the protesters? Was this man arrested?” the president said in a clear dig at the pro-black protests. In the tweet with the video of the incident to which Trump responded, Walsh said: “This guy brutally assaulted a Macy’s employee because of his race and then slandered him by claiming he said the n-word, which was a lie. This is a horrific hate crime and if the races were reversed it would be the only thing we talk about for days.”
In another tweet posted over a podcast held on the same issue, Walsh said: “In today’s podcast episode we talk about the white Macy’s employee who was brutally beaten because of his race. The media has no interest in the story. It’s not being prosecuted as a hate crime. But what if the races were reversed?”
Trump has courted controversy on issues related to racial killings and conflicts. While he said the video on the shooting of Arbery in Georgia in February did not say the whole story, he uttered “when looting starts, shooting starts” after violent protests broke out in Minneapolis after the brutal death of Floyd last month.
Videos of the incident from June 15 have gone viral in which a colored man is seen punching an employee inside a Macy’s store in Flint Township. The mask-wearing employee, a white man, was seen lying down on the floor and trying to evade the hostile assailant hovering above him. The Flint Township Police Department said in a news release later that officers responded to the assault that took place at the Genesee Valley Center around 5:45 pm, adding that it was confirmed by the store’s surveillance footage.
“What did you do that for?” the defensive employee was heard saying in the video after the black man hit on his head. “I didn't touch you, I didn't touch you... I'm sorry,” he said as the man punched him several more times and warning him against touching him. The assailant along with another man fled the scene after the attack, as per the local police, and no arrests have been made yet.
While some social media posts said the employee used the N-word repeatedly before the colored man retaliated, Macy’s spokesperson Andrea Schwartz said the act was unprovoked, Detroit Free Press reported. Police investigation into the incident is underway.