A man who wore a ‘Make Racism Wrong Again’ t-shirt and hat to his local Walmart store admitted he received ‘so many’ dirty looks while doing so.
Jamal Lewis, who lives in Western Pennsylvania, bought the clothing from Amazon and decided to wear it in public after experiencing a ‘large amount of open in-your-face racism’ in the area.
Posting a selfie of his attire to his Facebook page, Jamal, 48, said that while he received ‘a couple of’ compliments, the main response was for people to glare at him.
Went to Walmart rocking my Make Racism Wrong Again gear! Lol! So many dirty looks. A couple of compliments. One thing I'…
Posted by Jamal Lewis on Saturday, July 27, 2019
Along with the picture, Jamal explained his reasoning for wearing the outfit, describing the place he calls home ‘one of the most racist places [he’s] ever lived’.
The 48-year-old said he had never experienced so much racism before, despite living in several different places before that and travelling all over the country and outside the country.
Jamal wrote:
I’m not saying there’s not good people here, because they are. But there is a large amount of open in your face racism here.
Giving an example, Jamal said he and his children were sitting on the steps outside his home one day when a white man walked past with swastikas on his arms and a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat. ‘Needless to say I was shocked,’ he wrote, before saying he had never seen anything like that in his life.
The t-shirt and cap, which are available to buy from Amazon for £17.99 and £2.99 respectively, are in response to Donald Trump’s MAGA campaign slogan which has now become so much more than a slogan.
‘Make America Great Again’ is now recognised as a symbol of hatred by many, becoming synonymous with racism and misguided patriotism at a time when the stance taken by US authorities towards immigration is evidently hostile under the Trump administration.
With the president promising to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, and with approximately 50,000 immigrants being held in detention centres throughout America in ‘inhumane’ conditions, there’s no denying racial tensions in the US.
Trump himself recently came under fire for sending out a multitude of racist tweets, telling four Democratic congresswomen to ‘go back’ to the ‘crime-infested places from which they came’.
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
The president sparked outrage when he made the comments about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley – all four of whom are US citizens – although he hasn’t apologised for his actions.
Instead, he has doubled down on his claims, denied they were racist, and said the victims of his racist tweets should apologise to him.
Wow.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).