Yet another viral TikTok video captured the ongoing surge in anti-Asian hate that's torn across the United States—an upsetting trend that's begun to receive much stronger media scrutiny in the last couple of weeks.
This latest clip captured the deep discomfort one woman faced while she pumped gas for her car.
The video was shared by TikTok user Jenny Clark. She received the cell phone video from her friend Stella, who actually encountered the abuse during what she hoped would be a routine trip to the pump, the Daily Dot reported.
In the clip, Stella films as a woman at the pump next to her fires off a racist rant. The ranting woman was never caught on camera, as Stella kept her phone pointed downward, likely to avoid further escalation.
As Stella began recording, the woman literally demanded that she "bow" to her, or "you will go back to f'king where you came from."
When Stella ignored her, the woman became even more fired up:
"Oh, you refuse? Go back to where you came from! You get nothing."
"I own this place. I own all the gas stations and you get nothing, Asian, nothing. Go back to whichever Asian blah blah."
When a bystander quietly intervened, the woman doubled down.
"Did I stutter?
"Why would Jesus Christ give anyone the power, who acts like that? Entitlement, selfish, greedy. You're just Asian. You're Asian. Go back to your Asia."
As the video ended, text added over top of the TikTok video placed it in the unfortunate, but very real, present context.
"this is real. This is happening everywhere. Please share and stand up against racist hate crimes like this!"
People who saw the clip were absolutely outraged.
belfel/TikTok
GABRIELLE HAYES/TikTok
emily scott/TikTok
Joy730/TikTok
Others wish they had the chance to identify the racist woman.
It's the quenchiest/TikTok
irlcrimsonchin/TikTok
nick <3/TikTok
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caspian/TikTok
This incident was only one in a pronounced, rampant string of racist encounters Asian people in the United States have been dealing with since former President Donald Trump put a bulls-eye on them in his racist rhetoric to distract from the errors his administration made handling the global pandemic.
Last week, that targeted racism culminated in a brutal attack by a White domestic terrorist who went on a murder spree in the Atlanta area. The gunman attacked three separate massage parlors and planned to attack more.
The shooter took the lives of Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; handyman Paul Michels, 54; Yong Ae Yue, 63; Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Daoyou Feng, 44 and injured bystander Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30.
