ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOX) - The acting St. Louis County Health Director is asking for an investigation into the events of Tuesday's County Council meeting in which he says he was assaulted, faced racist slurs and was berated by local political candidates. He also admitted that he "expressed his displeasure" by flipping his middle finger toward a person who threatened him.
Dr. Faisal Kahn sent a letter to Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, explaining what happened during and after he spoke to the council before a vote on the mask mandate that was implemented on Monday.
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"I have never been subjected to the racist, xenophobic, and threatening behavior that greeted me," the letter states, which you can read at the bottom of this page. "My time before the Council began with a dog-whistle question from Councilman Tim Fitch, who said he wanted to emphasize for the assembled crowd that I was not from this country."
Fitch will join the Charlie Brennan Show with Amy Marxkors on Thursday at 9:05 a.m. to talk about the letter. You can listen to that interview or use the Audacy App rewind feature, here.
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Kahn says during and after his presentation he faced racist slurs and was pushed, bumped and "physically assaulted" while trying to leave. He says some were mocking his South Asian heritage by talking like the character named Apu in "The Simpsons" TV show.
"I became surrounded by the crowd in close quarters, where members of the crowd yelled at me, calling me a 'fat brown c***' and a 'brown bastard,'" Kahn's letter states. He says after that was when he gave the finger to one person in the crowd.
He believes "a great majority" of the crowd members were part of the "MAGA movement" because they chanted "Trump 2024."
Kahn said attorney Mark McCloskey, who's running for a US Senate seat, and Paul Berry III, who has run for County Executive, were both seated behind him while he spoke and "consistently berated me and tried to distract me from my presentation." He then says Fitch "lectured" him instead of those behind him.
Berry spoke to our partner station, 97.1 FM Talk and says when people read the letter, "you're gonna know it's not true."
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You can read his full letter, here:
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