'Go back to your country' woman tells Long Beach family in encounter on video
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A video that is going viral depicts a Long Beach family's encounter with a woman in their neighborhood who told them to "go back to your country."
Tony Kao said he and his wife and daughter were walking in their neighborhood recently when the woman passed by them and without provocation said "Go back to your country."
He wrote in a Facebook post he believes the same woman said something similar to them weeks earlier.
After hearing that, Kao and the woman were involved in a brief verbal confrontation, but as his wife began filming, the woman walked away.
"I want you to tell everybody why you told us to go back to our country," Kao is heard telling the woman as she walks away.
RELATED: Family says they are too busy caring for child with leukemia after receiving angry, racist letter
"You need to go back to your home country," she says.
He continues pressing her: "What does that mean? ... It's unbelievable at this time and age. We're born and raised in the United States. You told me to go back to our country?"
But she continues walking away, unwilling to be filmed as she shares her views.
RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Woman confronts Pleasant Hill worker wearing blackface in Staples
Kao wrote about the encounter on Facebook and the video has since been viewed more than 350,000 times.
"We encountered a bigot and a racist today in our neighborhood in Long Beach," Kao wrote.
RELATED: I-Team: New breed of white nationalist leadership based in California
He said he was stunned to see such attitudes exist in Long Beach.
But after thousands of comments were left, many of them negative, Kao said he wants people to take away a positive message and be respectful.
"Although my post was about something negative, the message we want to convey is positive and that is to be respectful to one another no matter of what race, creed, or color. Please do not use my post to foster more feeling of anger or hatred because frankly there's already enough of those feelings in this world."
RELATED: Student says Clovis teacher said to 'go back to your country' for sitting during flag salute
The video does not identify the woman by name. She has been identified by a number of online commenters as a faculty member at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and she confirmed her identity in one media interview.
The school put out a statement condemning her comments: "It has recently come to our attention that there was a video posted on Facebook of a GWC faculty member making comments that the College does not condone or support. Golden West College believes in an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students."
