Harassment Of Family On Texas Beach Illustrates Growing Anti-Muslim Sentiment [Video]

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX — Some people get emotional when arrested by police, as one man's recent booking photo attests. But the man was hardly sad in the lead-up to his arrest, drunkenly harassing a Muslim family in an extended, profanity-laced, racist rant.

"Donald Trump will stop you [expletive deleted]!" Alexander Jennes Downing, 35, shouted to a Muslim family who had hoped to enjoy a nice day at the beach on May 5. Noria Alward, one of the members of the Muslim family, recorded the encounter before posting it on her Facebook page.

"Donald Trump is my president!" Downing shrieks. "You can try to act like your innocence! [sic]. You can try to [expletive] with me, but guess what? You will never ever ever stop me. My Christianity will rise above your Sharia law. Your Sharia law don't mean [expletive deleted] to me!"

This went on for some 20 minutes before police arrived to arrest Downing on a charge of public intoxication. According to family members, children as young as two years old were among family members who witnessed the man's profane-laden harassment.

The footage can be seen below, but be warned as it contains profane language:

A Waterford, Conn., resident, Downing was visiting the popular South Padre Island coastline enjoyed by families year-round and, perennially, by throngs of college students who descend to the place in the thousands during the Spring Break period.

Intentional or not, Trump has emboldened those with anti-Muslim sentiments in their hearts to voice their bias given the president's attempts to ban Muslims from traveling into the U.S. and other expressed thoughts on the population segment. The presidential rhetoric has given tacit endorsement among some to give voice to deep-seated racism, as the beachfront rant vividly illustrates.

Beyond the bucolic landscape of South Padre Island, incidents like the Downing affair are on the uptick across the country given the current political climate. The ubiquity of cell phone cameras has increasingly yielded footage of such incidents for ugly posterity.

This week, an ugly tirade by an impatient shopper at a Virginia Trader Joe's store was captured on video. "I wish they didn't let you into the country," a woman is seen telling a fellow shopper, who informed the woman that, while Muslim, he is a U.S. citizen like her. "Obama's not in office anymore," she responds. "You don't have a Muslim in there anymore."

The first black president in U.S. history, Barack Obama raised the suspicions of many of his detractors who turned to xenophobic theories to denigrate the pioneering politician. Trump himself fueled his national prominence by questioning Obama's birth, demanding relentlessly to see Obama's birth certificate.

Obama identifies himself as Christian and was born in Hawaii, as his birth certificate attests—indisputable facts that have failed deter many from abandoning their conspiratorial theories about the former president. The rise of Trump has yielded a more palatable alternative to some, but has also allowed tacit endorsement to air sycophants' twisted views on race and religion.

Police say Downing was drunk during his Cinco de Mayo rant, a provable fact given the availability of tools designed to confirm blood alcohol levels. More elusive is an assessment of a person's character, level of noble disposition, sense of humanity or, say, just general niceness when not drunk. For that, one might turn to a person's past criminal record as a bellwether.

By that measure, Downing doesn't sound like a very nice guy. He's currently on probation for "abuse of an elderly or disabled adult" and "battery domestic violence," according to media reports.

>>> Alexander Jennes Downing booking photo via South Padre Island Police Department