PHILADELPHIA — Black attendees waiting to get into former President Donald Trump’s packed weekend rally at Temple University found themselves confronted by a man with a menacing message.
“Take the MAGA hat off, go visit upstate Pennsylvania, and see how welcome you are,” the protester in a Jerry Rice San Francisco 49ers jersey told a black man in the captive audience. “Go to upstate Pennsylvania after dark, and see how welcome you will be!
As football fans know, the 49ers and hometown Philadelphia Eagles have been two of the better teams in the league recently and faced off in some intense games.
The protester subjected multiple rally-goers to his spiel, in which he referred to white, rural areas as “sundown town” — implying serious danger for black residents and visitors.
“It’s called the ‘sundown town,’ which means get your black ass outta town before the sun goes down,” the man sniped.
Most of those the man accosted calmly chuckled as he continued to heckle. Security barricades outside Liacouras Center separated him from the attendees waiting to enter.
Across the street in front of Temple’s Beasley School of Law, a small but energetic group of counterprotesters campaigned for President Biden’s re-election. Several protesters wore masks and carried signs calling Trump a “fascist” or simply “smelly.”