Racism is still a terrible problem in the United States. The issue has been exacerbated by the recent presidential election that was racially charged. It brought many racist people out of obscurity and into the limelight.
One of those racist people is Alexander Jennes Downing. A video of that man hit the internet and quickly made him infamous. The video, taken on a beach in Texas, shows Downing unleash a racist verbal assault on a family who had done nothing to him. He was clearly drunk throughout the filming of the video, though that is no excuse for the cruelty he subjected the family to.
The family who filmed the video explained afterward that they were in the midst of a family reunion when they had the misfortune of meeting Downing. They first encountered two women who had been verbally harassed by downing. These women asked for help with Downing, and the father in the family approached Downing and said: “Please enjoy your time and have fun and let everyone else here enjoy their time.” Those simple and kind words were enough to send the drunk and irate Downing into a rage.
After briefly leaving the family, Downing soon returned and began to rant at the father. He shouted obscenities and racial slurs, even as small children stood nearby. His verbal assault included mentions of Donald Trump, saying “Donald Trump will stop you.” Downing also brought up his own Christianity while attacking the family for being Muslim.
The video shows that Downing clearly did not care who overheard him. Other family members stood up to Downing when he approached too close to the children, and a couple of bystanders attempted to intervene. The family also took the video of the enraged man, which has since gone viral, to show what he was doing.
The man eventually left, at which point the family contacted police. The police could do nothing after the fact but asked to be called again if they were harassed any further.
The family attempted to relax on the beach again only to have Downing return. He aggressively harassed the family so they called 911. At this point, he was arrested, but the trouble did not end there. The very next day he was back at the hotel the family was also staying at. Hotel management refused to kick him out despite the fact that he was clearly a threat to innocent hotel guests.
The fact that people like Downing are able to do such terrible things without seeming to face real consequences is a sad reflection of the country. Luckily, thanks to the internet, Alexander Jennes Downing is now known throughout the world as a racist thug.