Racist Reston Tirade Video Has 5M Views, Sparks Debate

RESTON, VA -- The man captured on video going on a racist rant at a driver while wearing a Reston Association t-shirt has exploded online, garnering nearly 5 million views in the last few days.

The video was first posted by Arsalan Ghousi on his Facebook page on July 1, and it shows a man with an RA shirt approaching his vehicle and screaming obscenities at him while referring to him as "Afghanistan."

On Twitter, Ameer Ghousi -- who claimed to be Arsalan Ghousi's brother -- said that the man had tailgated his brother for miles, prompting him to pull over and ask why.

"FYI, my brother has an Afghan flag sticker on his truck, right next to his American Flag... and yes we were born here," he tweeted on Monday.

As of Thursday afternoon, his tweet has nearly 60,000 retweets and more than 150,000 likes, and the video has nearly 5 million views.

Warning: This video contains strong language.

My brother was being tailgated for miles and he pulled over to see why. FYI, my brother has an Afghan flag sticker on his truck, right next to his American Flag... and yes we were born here pic.twitter.com/dc6UpZMr3l
— Ameer Ghousi (@AmeerG95) July 2, 2018

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The video was posted on Sunday, and the Reston Association responded with a statement on Monday stating that the man in the video had been employed only as a seasonal employee from March-August 2015 and had not worked for the association since then.

"Reston Association became aware of a video posted on social media today that shows a former RA seasonal employee making inappropriate comments to a man seated in a vehicle," RA acting CEO Larry Butler said in the statement. "The association strongly condemns the remarks made by the former employee."

Butler went on to say that Robert E. Simon Jr. had a "vision of a community that embraces diversity," and that RA members and staff "support the core values upon which our community was founded."

Many were supportive of Ghousi on his Facebook page.

"That jerk that followed Arsalan is an imbecile," wrote Ashlea Smith. "As a Restonian, I am shocked and disappointed. I'm glad Reston Association spoke up. They should take their shirt back from him so 'loud mouth' doesn't misrepresent RA anymore."

"If you’re going to be racist, at least correctly differentiate between Afghanistan, the country, and Afghan, the people," added Sophia Aimen. "His punishment in life is to be a racist and an idiot!"

Most comments were supportive, but a few faulted Ghousi with the response: "You both look stupid. One spouting racist commentary with an anger management problem. The other behaving infantile and egging on the racist. This video should be headlined: Two Adult Males Behave like Uneducated Children," wrote LisaMarie Zack Persson (to which Ghousi responded, "True.")

And some others seemed to suggest that there was nothing wrong with the angry man's racist comments at all.

"What did the dumb sob do to provoke this man. Just like every other case they only show what their agenda is not the whole thing," wrote David Randolph.

There have been other racially charged incidents in the area in recent years. A confrontation at a Trader Joe's in Reston last year that was captured on camera involved a white woman telling a Muslim, "I wish they didn't let you into the country."

Image: Screenshot of video posted by Arsalan Ghousi, used with permission