NEW YORK—Thomas Arrington, a twenty-something Queensborough Community College (QCC) student, was in mid-conversation about the recent election when two students threatened to “light” his hat on fire. The incident, according to Arrington started with his “Make America Great Again” hat—which has been the slogan of president-elect Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
In an interview with Owen Shroyer of Infowars Nightly News, Arrington recounts the events that transpired prior to the threat on Thursday, November 10. He was on campus having a “friendly [political] discussion” with a couple of his peers when a few guys ran up threatening to set his hat on fire. Arrington ignored the group of guys and continued with the conversation until, “one of them flanked me and came behind me trying to light me up,” said Arrington. He believes the attack had nothing to do with the conversation with his peers, but because he was wearing the Make America Great Again [MAGA] hat. “Got into a lot of debates, but this is the first time I’ve been threatened.”
After the incident, Arrington reported to the QCC’s public safety department. The report was filed on Thursday with no action according to Arrington, so he followed-up on Monday. He recounts that the public safety officials were “dismissive-smiling, asking what he [Arrington] was doing there.” Arrington questioned if public safety was ignoring him because of statistics or because he is a Trump supporter.
Since filing the report, the Dean apologized on behalf of the students and offered counseling for Arrington once the students involved in the threat have been found and identified. His criminology professor- a former NYPD detective reminded him that, “This is a hate crime. Whether the the threat was taken through it or whether it was a hate crime, it’s still a hate crime.”
Arrington was left disappointed with public safety and has since reached out to the local police precincts to file a criminal report.
When asked by the Observer to provide a reason for his support of Trump Arrington stated:
“Hillary Clinton stated several times that if she’s president we’re going to attack Iran. She also said she’d be willing to attack countries physically for a cyber attack. I don’t think that’s military doctrine anywhere in the world. She scares me. I have little brothers who are draft age. My girlfriend is draft age. I don’t want them to get drafted. I don’t want $10 a gallon gas. Really, out of anti-establishment and against continuation of all Obama’s foreign wars.”
In his interview with Infowars Nightly News, Arrington adds to his statement in the Observer interview saying, “He’s [Trump] a hometown hero. I’m from Queens, New York. He’s from Queens, New York. He’s a very successful guy, he stands up for the people.”
Arrington states that he will continue to wear his MAGA hat as well as his “Hillary for Prison 2016” shirt around campus.
