To Rakeem Jones, flanked on all sides by uniformed sheriff’s deputies, it was more than just the shock of being ejected from a political rally for Donald Trump. The black man felt as if he was being transported back in time.
“It’s not the America they portray on TV,” the 26-year-old said, the day after he was wrestled to the ground by officers and punched in the face during the campaign event in Fayetteville, N.C.
But to friend Ronnie Rouse, who caught the incident on video, it was “totally American.”
“This is the America everybody wants to ignore,” the music producer told the Associated Press on Thursday. “This is the America, when people tell you, ‘Oh, racism doesn’t exist.’ It’s here.”
What should we make of scenes like this Wednesday evening at Crown Coliseum?
They have become a regular thing at Trump rallies, and while security experts say Trump has every right to quash dissent at events he’s paying for, they say the Republican front-runner is playing with fire by not tamping down uncivil behavior and assault.
“I would go so far as to say that I find that abhorrent,” security consultant Stan Kephart, a former police chief in Arizona and California, said of Trump’s failure to call out his pugnacious followers. “To me, he’s pressing the line. He’s doing things that you would see a showman do.”
Jones said the man who hit him was allowed to stay, but on Thursday, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office charged 78-year-old John Franklin McGraw of Linden, N.C., with assault and disorderly conduct.
A news release from the sheriff’s office said the assault victim was being escorted out of Crown Coliseum after disrupting the rally, and deputies had their eyes on the stairs when the assault happened.
“The deputies who did not see the assault continued up the steps with the victim, who was ultimately escorted from the Coliseum,” the news release said.
McGraw was arrested Thursday after investigators reviewed a video posted on social media. Videos from the event show a man with a ponytail and cowboy hat hitting a black man being escorted from the seating area.
Sheriff Earl Butler condemned the assault and launched an internal investigation into how deputies handled the situation.