The RNC is investigating the circumstances of a recent viral video with content that’s being labelled as a hate crime.
The two-minute TikTok video depicts a man in a car shouting “white power” and admitting to being a racist who “just loves his own people.” It’s believed the man shouted the comments at a gay couple at a park in Conception Bay South.
The Executive Director of Quadrangle, an organization that provides supports for the LGBTQ+ community, says such incidents are not as uncommon as people think.
Charlie Murphy says when he moved to the province in 2009 it was “very common” for him to walk down the street and have slurs yelled at him.
While that has become less common for him over the years, he doesn’t want to make it seem like it is “uncommon.” He says just because it isn’t happening as openly as it seems in the video, doesn’t mean it isn’t a common story for many people.
Murphy details the damaging effects of hearing such comments.
He says the person who the comments are directed at can feel unsafe, threatened, and unwelcomed. He says it makes people automatically feel like they are not in a safe place, and that they are in a society that is not made for them.