During Sunday morning’s service at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a tweeted photo of 2016 GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and civil rights activist DeRay McKesson sitting next to one another went viral. So did the hashtag #GoHomeDeRay, which is still trending on Twitter as of this writing.
Many think that McKesson, who first gained fame as a protester during and after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, only went to Charleston for his own self interests. Hence the hashtag, which is rife with “colorful” hot takes from all sides.
The hashtag has mostly been turned into a pro-DeRay social media statement by Twitter users with big followings:
The #GoHomeDeray hashtag, which has been a top trend nationwide for over 14 hours, is despicable & cowardly. It also has deep racist roots.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) June 21, 2015
When you are overcome with guilt and experience cognitive dissonance you create a hashtag like #GoHomeDeray … pitiful — Tobi Aji (@TobiIsGreat) June 21, 2015
Congratulations to @deray on the #GoHomeDeray hashtag. My long-term dream is to anger racists enough to trend. Yours is a triumphant victory
— Halt and Retch Bile (@Bro_Pair) June 21, 2015
Damn, @deray got his own hatred trend. #GoHomeDeray That trumps all the blind hatred I’ve garnered. Congrats! #ThankYouDeray — Ferrari Sheppard (@stopbeingfamous) June 21, 2015
However, the first musings were very much not very nice at all:
While @glennbeck is trying to bring comfort & support to #Charleston @Deray is trying to divide. #GoHomeDeray pic.twitter.com/YVcc4LO7p6
— The Patriot (@ThePatriot143) June 19, 2015
The Citizens of #Charleston Unites To Start The Healing 👉 @Deray ‘s Kryptonite #GoHomeDeray #TheNationLovesYou 🇺🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/hzAZAH8Fzq
— The Patriot (@ThePatriot143) June 19, 2015
Tonight, 10 shot in Detroit at basketball court and 7 shot in Philly at a picnic. @deray if #blacklivesmatter get on a bus #GoHomeDeray
— jodster36 (@jodster36) June 21, 2015
Ppl of Charleston don’t need the self-aggrandizing agitation of Al Sharpton & @deray. They need healing & the peace of Christ. #GoHomeDeray
— Joe the Dissident (@joethepatriotic) June 20, 2015
CNN’s Brian Stelter caught up with McKesson after the church services on Reliable Sources and asked him about the hashtag. Unsurprisingly, the activist immediately referenced the nine death churchgoers who were killed by Dylann Roof on Wednesday night:
I wouldn’t be here if those nine people had not been killed. Racism is alive and well in places like South Carolina, and in towns across America. So I’m here in solidarity like many other people who’ve come to express their sympathy for the victims, and to figure out how we fight systems of oppression that continue to kill people.
He’s not wrong. Santorum was there too, albeit with more focus on the possible anti-religious nature of Roof’s crimes than the suspect’s racist sympathies.
Check out the clip below, courtesy of CNN:
[h/t CNN]
[Image via screengrab]
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