Americans have taken to social media to detail racist and hateful encounters they say they experienced the day after Donald Trump won the presidential election.
A Twitter moment titled “Day 1 In Trump’s America” bills itself as a “collection of tweets about racist episodes [people of color] are facing now that Trump is our President Elect.”
Insanul Ahmed, who is a senior editor at Genius, created the moment. Ahmed told TheWrap that he started compiling the stories because Twitter “needed a single place that had all of these stories” and “to highlight the reality that we’re facing for people who don’t have to experience” being on the receiving end of hate.
Ahmed continued: “I wanted it to be a warning to POC, minorities, women, etc. that there is a real potential for danger that we all have to confront and we can only do it together — which is why I was sure to include stories from different groups and from all over the nation.”
These are unfiltered stories people shared, not confirmed by law enforcement or TheWrap. (One false report on Wednesday hurt everyone by giving ammunition to people inclined to deny all accounts of racist attacks.)
However, together Trump’s America paints a picture of citizens who feel threatened and unsafe under the new administration, because they think bigots are emboldened by Trump’s win.
“I’m still at my day job and haven’t had time to corroborate all these stories, though two of them are from friends. I’m honestly unsure that could even be done because many of these instances happened when no one was around or too quickly. That said, I do have Trump supporters in my mentions telling me all of the stories must be fake,” Ahmed said. “Most of the stories I saw seemed too specific to be made up.”
Check out some of the tweets that have been included in “Trump’s America.”
https://twitter.com/ManikRathee/status/796408766518292480
https://twitter.com/mehreenkasana/status/796349158638686209
Not even 24 hours yet. My friend's sister, who is Muslim, had a knife pulled on her by a Trump supporter while on the bus by UIUC campus.
— Sarah Suzuki Harvard (@sarahamyharvard) November 9, 2016
Someone on the streets of LA just yelled at one of my girl's Latina coworkers to "go back where you came from." #TrumpsAmerica
— Alex/Apex Gale (@AlexGale) November 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/wagamonster/status/796370825213448196
https://twitter.com/harryonmen/status/796250292215873536
https://twitter.com/Mcbrownie/status/796227942422614016
https://twitter.com/claudiafavelaa/status/796350018219347968
https://twitter.com/sunnysayed_/status/796400988622114816
https://twitter.com/dorota98765/status/796552269907038208
this was in Durham, NC pic.twitter.com/EVGTXCMEmT
— Avarice Gambino (@Pinocchio_Lies) November 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/TRmariasanchez/status/796605155277934593
https://twitter.com/dlberes/status/796391553229090817