A feminist internet activist harangued White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer inside an Apple Store in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to ask what it’s like to “work for a fascist” and demanding to know if Spicer has “committed treason, too, just like the president.” She then accused Spicer of racism.
In a post on Twitter, 33-year-old education advocacy non-profit worker Shree Chauhan recorded herself harassing Spicer as he tried to browse the Apple Store.
Chauhan approached Spicer and asked him, “How does it feel to work for a fascist? How does it feel? You have a great country? Have you helped with the Russian stuff? Are you a criminal as well? Have you committed treason, too, just like the president? Have you committed treason too? What can you tell me about Russia?”
Spicer, who was unable to get a word in while Chauhan was hounded him, eventually responded, “It’s such a great country that allows you to be here.”
Chauhan continued to ask, “What can you tell me about Russia, Mr. Secretary?”
“Thank you very much,” Spicer says, as he begins to walk away.
“What can you tell me?” Chauhan continued to ask.
Chauhan was so proud of her actions that she wrote a follow-up post to her interaction on Medium. In the five-minute read piece, Chauhan calls Spicer’s comments about it being “such a great country” “racism and an implied threat.” She also claims his comments threatened her citizenship:
Unlike this administration, I do not believe in “alternative facts”. I believe in facts. I do not believe in accusing someone of this level of racism, if in fact it was not.
So I watched the video over and over again. I had other people watch it. I watched it with the sound off so I could watch Mr. Spicer’s lips and make sure words match up with the consonants I thought I heard. I watched it with the volume all the way up with my eyes closed.
And his words were clear.
“Such a great country that allows you to be here.”
That is racism and it is an implied threat. Think about the sheer audacity of Mr. Spicer to say that to my face with a smile, knowing that he that he is being recorded on video and the position of power he holds in our government.
“Such a great country that allows you to be here.”
I am still stunned by the boldness of having my citizenship threatened on camera.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Chauhan doubled down on accusing Spicer of racism.
“He’s the press secretary for the President of the United States,” Chauhan said. “Don’t tell me what he probably meant because he also works for this administration that has done all of these things.”
“He could've said, 'Such a great country that allows dissent,'" she continued. “There’s a lot of ways that could’ve been said.”
“To have someone who speaks for the President of the United States tell me to my face that I shouldn’t be here and I was born here – that is a real thing,” she continued.
The Daily Mail notes that Spicer could have meant that it is “such a great country” that allows people to exercise different opinions freely.
Chauhan told Heavy.com she was inspired by bother the press secretary by a photo of Auschwitz.
She told Heavy.com, “Part of the spiraling descent into fascism is the normalization of it.”
“I recently saw a picture of folks taking a break from the horrors they were committing at Auschwitz. If we didn’t know any better, it would just look like a black and white photo of people laughing. But it was a picture of people laughing who were also committing genocide. What is interesting about fascism is that life does not stop completely, but things are changing. For me, confronting Mr. Spicer was a way to shake us out of the humdrum of life and acknowledge that the ‘subtle changes’ are in fact abnormal and a descent into fascism,” she continued.
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