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NEW YORK, NY — A former congressional candidate in Colorado has claimed she received death threats after she retweeted a provocative New York Times opinion piece titled, “Should I Give Up on White People?” written by Emory University philosophy professor George Yancy.
Indian American Democrat Saira Rao, who lost her bid for Colorado’s Congressional District 1 House seat on June 26, told local media on July 10 she and her family were leaving Denver because she feared for their safety. Rao and her husband Shiv live in Denver with their two children.
“It feels really, really hateful right now. Everyone knows what my kids look like. I just can’t take that risk,” Rao told reporters.
Rao retweeted Yancy’s op-ed on July 5, answering the author’s headline question with the response: “Short and long answer: YES.”
And that’s when a flurry of activity began. Rao received 364 responses to her tweet, some of which accused her of being a racist herself.
Many wrote of Rao’s “sour grapes” response to her failed congressional bid.
According to Rao, the tweet gained traction after state Rep. Paul Rosenthal, who is white, retweeted her message and said he disagreed with her.
She said the reaction to her tweet is essentially proving her point about the need to “dismantle white supremacy,” which she said is “a task white people must undertake.”