Larry Mitchell is tired of hearing the hateful-phrase “go back to Africa” shouted at him from white supremacists and racists on the street or in comments targeting him online.
Mitchell, a resident of Kokomo, Indiana, has decided to challenge racists everywhere to put their money where their mouth is by creating a GoFundMe page to pay for his trip back to the African continent.
“If you want me to go back to Africa I will gladly go … you can help make your dream and mine come true,” he writes on his crowdfunding page. “Accepting all donations … KKK, Skin Heads and anyone else with like mind thinking are welcome to donate … Thank you … God bless you and America.”
He added the hashtag #putyourmoneywhereyourhateis in the post.
In just over a week, the GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $1,300 of his $100,000 goal and been shared over 30,000 times.
While the page did attract racist remarks, many of the comments along with donations were from people who were supportive of Mitchell’s statement.
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“I don’t know you personally but I would rather you stay in America. You are wanted here,” read one response.
“Hahaha! Love it. You’re genius,” wrote Jackson Lam, who donated $5. “Enjoy the trip, but do please come back – we need more clever ideas to solve our complex problems.”
Mitchell, who is a chef and posts recipes on his blog, told the Washington Post he created the fundraising page after receiving hateful comments on social media when Tweeting about any issue relating to African Americans.
The phrase “go back to Africa” or “go back to Mexico” has also highlighted the issue of racism in the U.S. election.
An incident outside of a Donald Trump rally in Chicago was caught on video of a heavyset, white man in a camouflage sweatshirt yelling “go back to Africa!” and swearing at black protesters.
Video shared widely on social media in May appears to show a man wearing a Donald Trump T-shirt deliberately throwing garbage on the ground of a McDonald’s in Kansas while screaming at a Latino employee by telling him to “Go back to Mexico.”
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