While many were enjoying warm weather, BBQ, and fireworks on the Fourth of July, The View co-host Sunny Hostin said her holiday was ruined by an ugly racist incident.
During a segment on the growing list of things you apparently cannot do while being Black in America, Hostin recounted the terrible scene during her Independence Day spent in Sag Harbor, a beach community just outside of New York City.
“My family, as I said, have rented this house in a predominantly African-American community. It has real history — it’s the only place that Blacks were allowed to buy beachfront property in the country — and so it’s the most-owned African American beachfront property in the country,” Hostin explained.
“We were there celebrating and some kids, about 20 of them, ran in front of our home and started yelling the N-word at us. And I have a video of sort of the aftermath when we realized they were targeting us.”
After realizing that her family was being singled out, Hostin whipped out her cell phone and began recording. She asked a few bystanders if they were the ones yelling the N-word, but they denied being involved, though they acknowledged someone else hurled the racial epithet.Hostin called the police and filed a report, but indicated a few of the people also told her, “This is America. We are patriots. This is our holiday.”
Though Hostin and her family remained safe, she was disheartened that such an incident could occur in Sag Harbor, a formerly safe space for African-Americans that is now gentrifying.
“This area is supposed to be a safe haven, it’s a place of pride and we found out later they targeted us specifically because of that community,” she said, adding that those who accosted her family “came from outside of the area.”Unfortunately, Hostin’s experience isn’t unique. Since Donald Trump was elected in 2016 hate crimes have surged, and New York City saw the steepest increase. According to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, the Big Apple had 380 hate crimes in 2016, a 24% increase since 2015.
White hate incidents have been on the rise, as the TV host said, it’s “shocking that in this day and age” these types of incidents still occur.