It's not just members of Congress being told to "go back" to their country — the racist comment is heard by people of color frequently in America.
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00:00Go back to where you came from.
00:02Go back to where you came from.
00:04Go back where you came from.
00:20So the first time I had that shouted at me
00:22was, I was a kid.
00:24I must have been maybe in junior high
00:26and I was with my parents
00:28and we were just trying to make a three-point turn
00:30at night and so we pulled
00:32into a driveway and this guy
00:34kind of stumbled by
00:36and in hindsight he must
00:38have been drunk. He put both hands
00:40on the hood of the car
00:42and said,
00:44go back
00:46to where you came from.
00:48None of us said anything
00:50and then we
00:52made our three-point turn and
00:54went away and I remembered feeling very
00:56sad. I felt sad
00:58for my parents,
01:00you know,
01:02that they worked so hard
01:04and
01:06there's nothing we could do about
01:08it.
01:10But it just felt sad
01:12and I couldn't say anything to that guy.
01:14I think in hindsight I wish I had said
01:16something to my parents, you know.
01:18I wish I could have really
01:20affirmed that and said,
01:22you know, being an immigrant
01:24is important in America.
01:26I think what's funny is
01:28I feel more American
01:30than my parents and
01:32in that moment I just felt like
01:34saying sorry on behalf of
01:36America because I felt
01:38more like,
01:40hey, I know better. I know
01:42better than that guy and I know
01:44that's not what this country stands for.
01:54You might have noticed how when he said,
01:56go back to where you came from,
01:58there was an uproar
02:00through the
02:04through all of our communities
02:06because every single person
02:08who's brown and black
02:10at some point in their life in this
02:12country heard that.
02:14First time I heard it, I was a kid
02:16and other kids make fun of me
02:18and it really was about my name.
02:20It was about my name.
02:22Other kids were making fun of the way my name was spelled.
02:24I'm not really American. I don't really belong here.
02:26Go back to my country.
02:28Most recently it happened, I just moved to Texas.
02:30Now I love Texas.
02:32Love Texas. It's amazing.
02:34But I was
02:36in a gas station and
02:38I just pulled into the gas station
02:40and there was this older woman and this
02:42guy and they were clearly in the middle of like
02:44a heated thing.
02:46I get out of the car.
02:48I want no part of this, right?
02:50She says something to me in Spanish.
02:52I just happened to be right there.
02:54I responded to her in Spanish.
02:56I'm just talking in Spanish.
02:58He turns around and says,
03:00you see, that's why you guys don't belong here.
03:02That's why we want you out.
03:04That's why you need to go back to your country.
03:06Go back to where you came from.
03:08I'm kind of like, what?
03:10I turned to him
03:12and I speak to him in English.
03:14I'm like, hey, dude, what's the deal?
03:16I'm American. What's your problem?
03:18And his face sort of contorted
03:20when I speak English. His reaction was
03:22hysterical. He mumbled something
03:24under his breath and got in his car.
03:26And I just
03:28kept thinking to myself, for me, that doesn't
03:30phase me. But to go there,
03:32I was just wrong.
03:34I was just messed up. I mean, I don't know
03:36what happened between them, but that
03:38level of hate over whatever
03:40could have happened at a gas station,
03:42it was just too much.
03:44I've heard the expression, go back where you
03:46came from, so often and for
03:48so long that I actually cannot remember
03:50the first time someone said it to me.
03:52I used to get angry about it, but now
03:54I actually laugh about it because
03:56possibly because I have a whole
03:58repertoire of comebacks. I usually
04:00say, okay, I'll go back to New York.
04:02That's where I was born and raised.
04:04Or they say, oh, Tony, that's
04:06not what I mean. You know where you're really from.
04:08I said, well, I'm really from New York, but
04:10my parents are from China. I'll go back
04:12to China if you go back to Nazi Germany.
04:14Or back to Italy or Poland
04:16or wherever because I find that a lot of the
04:18white people who say this to me
04:20tend to be children and grandchildren
04:22of immigrants themselves.
04:24So yeah, it makes me angry to hear that,
04:26go back where you came from, because the
04:28only persons who can actually say that
04:30should be Native Americans.
04:32And let's remember, it's liberty and
04:34justice for all.
04:36And that's what made and makes
04:38America great.