What It’s Like to be Told to “Go Back to Your Country”

Brut America

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.

Transcript

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.

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