An Indian-American CEO faced racial abuse after he criticised US President Donald Trump following the violence in Charlottesville where white supremacists clashed with counter-demonstrators.
Ravin Gandhi, CEO of a Chicago-based company who had earlier supported President Trump’s economic agenda, said he could no longer support Trump “who seems to hate Americans who don’t like him”. Mr Gandhi wrote an article for CNBC titled 'I tried to give Trump a chance. But after Charlottesville, it's over'.
"After Charlottesville and its aftermath, I will not defend Trump even if the Dow hits 50,000, unemployment goes to 1 percent, and GDP grows by 7 percent. Some issues transcend economics, and I will not in good conscience support a president who seems to hate Americans who don’t like him."
“I saw the president of the United States cowardly signal tacit support of white supremacists and Nazis,” he said.
Mr Gandhi criticised Trump for equating the two opposing groups in Charlottesville.
It burns me that the president equated these hate groups with the people who were protesting hate. One side was cancer and one side was chemotherapy, and you cannot say chemotherapy is a bad guy the way cancer is.
“It burns me that the president equated these hate groups with the people who were protesting hate. One side was cancer and one side was chemotherapy, and you cannot say chemotherapy is a bad guy the way cancer is,” he said.
But Mr Gandhi had to face a barrage of racist abuse, including on Twitter, by email and he posted a voicemail he received on YouTube wherein a woman called him a “pig”, telling him to go back to India “where pigs live”. The woman can also be heard calling the US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley a “Bangladesh creep” for taking down the Confederate flag.
A screenshot of an email Mr Gandhi received after he wrote an article criticising Donald Trump. Source: Twitter
“Take your f#$%^& garbage to Indian and sell it there.”
“You know what, all of a sudden, Buddhist statues are offensive to me, so I think we should take all the Buddhist statues down that we have in the United States,” the woman continued.
Mr Gandhi says he believes a vast majority of Trump supporters were good people with honourable intentions.
“I don’t care about the voicemail, I don’t care at all. It’s a very small aspect of what happened to me,” said Mr Gandhi reacting to the abuse directed at him. “What it is representative of is the fever pitch in this country where people feel inspired to do hateful things.”
Donald Trump has been widely criticised not condemning the white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan members were involved in the march ‘Unite the Right’ which led to a clash between opposing groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month.
