Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

U.S. Olympian Catches Man On Video Spewing Racist Rant At Her While Training In A Park

U.S. Olympian Catches Man On Video Spewing Racist Rant At Her While Training In A Park
sakurakokumaikarate / Instagram

With anti-Asian crimes in the United States rising over the last year, Sakura Kokumai shared a video of a man harassing her for no reason and spoke about her experience.

Kokumai, 28, is an Olympic athlete and the first American to qualify for karate in the world-wide event. She was training in Grijalva Park, when a man randomly walks up to her and starts yelling at her.


The encounter was shared to Kokumai's Instagram account and with local news station KTLA 5.


U.S. Olympic athlete targeted in racist rant at Orange park where she trainswww.youtube.com


Kokumai said that it was a normal day at the park, where she has been training for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. However, when the man in the video walked up and started yelling random things at her, things became tense.

Kokumai said:

"He was basically just yelling stuff like, 'Don't talk behind my back. Why are you looking at my car?'. Things like that that made me notice it could be something a little bit, I don't know, off. So, I let it be."

The athlete said despite understanding the man didn't seem to be in control of himself, she was still scared.

"Obviously I was scared. I think in the video you can see I was kind of laughing but at that moment, you really don't know what to do."

The whole event was strange and weird to Kokumai, but when he said racial slurs as he got in his car to leave, the reason behind his outburst became clear.

After sharing the incident to her Instagram account, many sympathized with the athlete for the harrowing experience.


sakurakokumaikarate / Instagram


sakurakokumaikarate / Instagram


sakurakokumaikarate / Instagram


Kokumai, who is Japanese American, says the man said something about her being Chinese as he got in his car to drive away.

She said:

"The only two words I picked up were 'Chinese' and 'sashimi' which have no connection at all."

She also said that she was aware of the wave of anti-Asian hate in the country, but she didn't think it would happen in such a public place as a park.

The other park goers didn't do anything while the man was verbally abusing her, which to Kokumai was the scariest part.

"One lady did come up towards the end, asking if I was OK, but until then, as he was walking up, yelling, there were people but they kind of kept to themselves the entire time."
"I thought, what if this was my grandma or my mom? That scares me."

It was this thought that made her share this incident publicly.






The spread of hate crimes against Asians has been on the rise since former President Donald Trump targeted them with racist rhetoric. This was done to put the blame for the pandemic on China, and distract from his administration's failure to respond to the health crisis.

Now, high profile attacks are happening far too often, and people are getting injured or even killed. The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes has many in the community scared to leave their houses, including the parents of famous actor Daniel Dae Kim.

However, with incidents like what happened to Kokumai taking place so publicly and people around her not stepping in, it leaves many people still afraid for themselves.

This is why people are being called on to speak out when this happens.






Kokumai wasn't injured in this incident, which is very lucky. Many other people's encounters with racism can end in hospitalization.

At this time, the Olympic athlete has not reported the incident to the police, and is still processing what happened.

More from Trending

Newt Gingrich; Joe Neguse
C-SPAN

Dem Rep. Brings The Receipts After Newt Gingrich Claims Biden Judges Are Staging 'Coup'

On Tuesday, the House Democrats of the Judiciary Committee countered Republican efforts to undermine the constitutional role of an independent federal Judiciary branch—which is to provide checks and balances against the Executive and Legislative branches.

House Republicans—led by Judiciary Committee chair and friend-of-Donald, Jim Jordan—seek to retaliate against federal judges for following the United States Constitution and the rule of law.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nettie and Darrel Yeager
Darwell Yeager III/Facebook

Mississippi Restaurant Sparks Outrage After Offering Discount To Straight Couples Only

A Mississippi couple are in hot water online after offering a straight-couples discount at their restaurant.

Darrel and Nettie Yeager, owners of Darwell's Happiness Café, took to Facebook on March 25 to announce that any couple "who can produce a child" would get a special bonus.

Keep ReadingShow less
Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Slammed Over Crass Question He Wanted To Ask Stranded Astronauts

Fox News host Jesse Watters shared a cringey question that was one giant leap backward for mankind.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore gave their first official interview after safely returning from their nine-month long extended stay aboard the International Space Station after thinking they would return in eight days.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kid Rock
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Kid Rock Dragged After Donning A Truly Over-The-Top Outfit For His White House Visit

Singer Kid Rock was slammed for wearing a loud patriotic costume inside the Oval Office as Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday against ticket scalping.

The rocker's outfit consisted of a red, white, and blue jacket emblazoned with two eagles facing each other above the American flag with the number 250, a nod to America's upcoming 250th anniversary, and white stars on his sleeves.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Bill Cassidy
CNBC

MAGA Senator Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud With Epic Freudian Slip About Medicare

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was widely mocked following his inconvenient slip of the tongue during a CNBC interview as he mused about finding ways to "cut" Medicare before quickly correcting himself.

The exchange occurred after host Rebecca Quick pressed Louisiana Republican and former physician Bill Cassidy on how his party intended to fund the “trillion-dollar tax cuts” sought by President Donald Trump.

Keep ReadingShow less