A health leader in Missouri says residents mocked his accent and ridiculed him with impersonations of Apu from the animated TV series The Simpsons after speaking in favor of the county’s mask mandate.
Faisal Khan, the acting health director for St. Louis County in Missouri, says the incidents occurred after he spoke at a public meeting, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“I have never been subjected to the racist, xenophobic and threatening behavior that greeted me in the County Council meeting last night,” he wrote, in a letter addressed to Council Chair Rita Heard Days.
“The anger was already palpable,” he said to NBC News. “By the time I was asked to come to the podium, the train had left the station and it was only going to go one way.”
In his letter, he said he was shoulder-bumped and pushed as he tried to exit the meeting. He accused members of the crowd of calling him a ‘fat brown c—‘ and a ‘brown b——.”
He also said Councilman Tom Fitch emphasized to the crowd that “I was not from his country.”
Khan admits he gave the finger as he left the council meeting.
“The entire letter is another desperate attempt at deflection and diversion by Sam Page,” Councilman Tom Fitch said to the Post-Dispatch. “Dr. Khan knew he was in trouble for (giving the middle finger) and this was an opportunity to put that on someone else.”
The council voted 5-2 against the mask mandate, but the vote may be just symbolic as Khan says the mandate will stay in affect.
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America. When anyone, including our president, says “this is not who we are” in response to racism, well, they are so wrong. This country was founded with racism and racist violence. It is what America is.