Trump Supporter Leaves A Black Waitress $450 Tip For Demonstrating A Spirit Of Unity

A white Trump supporter is garnering a lot of attention recently for leaving a $450 dollar tip to a black waitress in a Washington restaurant. Jason White, 37, walked into Busboys and Poets, a restaurant in the capital that promotes social justice, the Washington Post reports. The Texan was with two friends and it didn’t take them long to notice all the African-American artwork and images around the restaurant. Jason White thought it would be a good idea to take off his red “Make America Great Again” cap.

We rise by lifting others. A lovely act of kindness pic.twitter.com/S01SV3w8ts

— Busboys and Poets (@busboysandpoets) January 24, 2017

Rosalynd Harris, 25, was their waitress for the day, and she had come to work that day rejuvenated from all the energy of the Women’s March she had attended the other day. Harris later admitted that she was initially prejudiced towards Jason and his two friends, assuming right away based on their appearance that they were Trump supporters in town for the inauguration. But Rosalynd greeted them warmly. They had a nice chat, and Jason, a dentist by profession, complimented Rosalynd on her “beautiful smile.” The situation didn’t turn tense as Jason has initially anticipated.

Jason was so impressed by Rosalynd’s behavior that he interpreted it as a general spirit of unity, a realization that underneath each of their political ideals they were both Americans. When Jason and his friends had finished the meal, Jason left Rosalynd a $450 tip, a homage to the 45th president of the United States, on the $72.60 bill, a tip of almost 625 percent. In the bill he wrote the following note to Rosalynd.

“We may come from different cultures and may disagree on certain issues, but if everyone would share their smile and kindness like your beautiful smile, our country will come together as one people. Not race. Not gender. Just American. God Bless!”

At the time Jason, a devout Christian, didn’t even tell his friends what he had done. And the men had left by the time Harris saw the receipt. She says that White’s kind words caught her attention before she even noticed the whopping $450 dollar tip, which she says took “a huge weight off [her] shoulders.” She described her reaction as follows:

“You automatically assume if someone supports Trump that they have ideas about you but [the customer was] more embracing than even some of my more liberal friends, and there was a real authenticity in our exchange.”

Harris claims Jason left her with more than just a generous tip. She says he made her realize that its wrong to make assumptions based on prejudices and that the experience had changed her general perception of her fellow Americans.

“This definitely reshaped my perspective. Republican, Democrat, liberal are all subcategories to what we are experiencing. It instills a lot of hope.”

Jason also claims that the experience had a profound effect on him. He realized that week that if most Americans decide to live with preconceived perception of others and never try to find out who they really are or what they are really like, there was no way America could move forward.

“As I sat there I thought about the entire weekend and I thought I don’t know her, she doesn’t know me, but if most Americans have a preconceived perception about people then we’re never going to get better.”

In the following video, Jason explains his motivation.

Millions of people across the United States and across the world participated in the Woman’s March last weekend. There have been wide protests against President Trump over his proposed policies and his controversial history.

[Featured Image by Hurst Photo/Shutterstock]