In a recent discussion with The Guardian, Rami Malek detailed his experiences with racism as an Egyptian-American, pointing to one racial profiling incident where he found himself on the hood of a cop car.
“I got thrown on the bonnet of an LAPD cop car because someone had robbed a liquor store and stolen a woman’s bag,” Malek explained. “They said the [thief] was of Latin descent and, ‘You fit the description.’ I remember how hot that engine was, they must have been racing over there and it was almost burning my hands.”
Luckily for the “Mr. Robot” star, he had a “clever” friend nearby who could clarify Malek’s race to the apprehending officer.
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“My friend, who was Caucasian, was clever enough to go, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian. Not Latin,’” Malek recalled. “I remember laughing on the cop car, thinking, ‘OK, this is a very precarious situation. I may well be going to jail for something I’ve not done.’”
Malek said he is anxious that discrimination against immigrants in the U.S. could worsen with Donald Trump taking office on Jan. 20. He went on to explain that former President Barack Obama’s book “Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope” remains a key source of perseverance, even when elections don’t have the preferred result.
“The idea that a man with a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas could become president of the United States, it was one of the most hopeful moments from the story of the American dream,” Malek said. “That’s been flipped on its head. I always look at situations like this and just hope that it brings out the absolute best in us.”