A Nigerian East Carolina University student, Adedayo
Adeniyi
was verbally and physically assaulted by a white man at a Donald Trump
rally last Wednesday after he was targeted and thrown out for being
black, New York Daily News, reports
20-year-old Adeniyi decided to attend the Donald Trump rally in
Fayetteville, N.C. not as a protester or demonstrator, but out of curiosity.
"I was there just to watch and experience the surreal moment of someone
like Trump running for president and speaking to thousands of people,"
he told the Daily News.
Without saying a single word during the entire event, Adeniyi was
randomly targeted and thrown out of the event by police as seen and
heard on video he recorded.
"At first I refused to leave because it was all just a product of being
black at a Trump rally. Basically in that environment I'm guilty by
association. But common sense told me to just listen to the cops and
move along," Adeniyi recalled.
On his cellphone video Adeniyi, being told he has to leave, can be heard saying:
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. That's not me, that's them. I don't even know them. What? I don't even know them. I don't even know them"
The visibly shocked student reluctantly complied and was escorted down the stairs by the police.
"What
happened next caused me to lose faith in America. The man at the end of
the video is a moment I'll never forget," said Adeniyi.
One
of Trump's supporters, a middle aged white man, looked him directly in
the face and said, "F--k you, F--k you," right before slapping Adeniyi
in the face.
"The hate
in his eyes. The words. The hate in those words. The slap. It was
disgusting and sad. At that moment I believed that America will stay and
continue to be a hateful and bigoted country,"
"These
are presidential candidate rallies. Not a KKK rally. The fact that I
experienced hate at a candidate rally tells you everything you need to
know about Donald Trump and the people that support him. People will act
more hateful and racist in environments that they feel not only
encouraged to do it, but accept it as normal," he added.
Meanwhile the man who assaulted Adeniyi has been identified as
Jason Wilton Wetzel (pictured is his mugshot and a screenshot from the
video recorded by Adeniyi) seems to have shown some remorse.
"I
can’t believe I did that. It was me, but I’m not a hateful man. I
just got caught up. When I saw the video all over the news of me doing
that to that young man, I was just disgusted with myself." said Mr
Wetzel, who confirmed to the Daily News that it was him seen physically
and verbally assaulting a Adeniyi.
Investigators said Wetzel, 70, moved to North Carolina from Georgia
when his job with the military was transferred to Fort Bragg. According
to detectives, Wetzel is accused of voting in both states in the 2012
primary and general elections as well as voting in both states in 2014.
"I
have no criminal background," Adeniyi told The News. "This man
does. So please explain to me who the real thug is. A young black man
who is a junior in college majoring in medical laboratory science and
who also happens to hold many leadership positions there? Or is it this
man, with a criminal background who attacked me for no reason?"
Reached by phone Monday, Wetzel claimed that it was indeed him on the
video, but said:
"I’m not a racist or hateful, I just got caught up. I
can’t explain it. I want to apologize to this young man and maybe take
him out to dinner or something."
No comments:
Post a Comment