Editor's Note: This piece was co-authored by Erika Haas and Micah Rate.
Four Congressional interns, who were selected as part of GOP Rep. Ken Buck's (CO-4) Diversity Internship Program which seeks to place African-American interns in Republican offices around Capitol Hill, were kicked out of an Uber ride Tuesday night because half of their party was carrying "Make America Great Again" hats.
Matthew Handy (a 20-year-old intern for Rep. Michael Bost [IL-12]), Elijah Allison (an intern for Rep. Ken Buck), Adria Barrington (a 33-year-old intern for Rep. David Schweikert [AZ-6]) and one other, entered an Uber hoping for a quick ride to a monthly MAGA meet-up at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. However, the driver immediately noticed Matthew's and Elijah's red hats--and he didn't take too kindly to them.
According to a recount of the story from the passengers, the driver looked in his rearview mirror and asked the young men, "Is that a Make America Great Again Hat?"
Matthew replied with a respectful, “Yes, sir.”
But what the driver said next shocked the group. "Well, I can’t take the ride," he stated.
Matthew told Townhall, “We’re all just like, oh he's just joking because I’ve had that done before where they're joking."
But the driver wasn't fooling around.
"He looks at us, he’s like, 'No, I'm so serious...I can't take the ride,'" Matthew recounted. "And we’re like, oh, he’s serious.”
As the group got out, one of the interns turned to ask the driver if he was planning to cancel their ride. With no regard for her question, he rolled up the window and drove off.
The group did end up calling for another Uber, which took them to the event. But before getting in their next ride, Matthew explained the group asked the driver if it was alright that he and Elijah had their hats.
"Just to be clear, we had to kind of ask if it’s okay if we have these [hats] in our hands. We didn’t even have them on. We did ask the question...and the guy was like, 'Yeah, that’s fine. Money’s money,'" Matthew explained.
Though Uber did not charge Matthew for the ride, the money was the least of the young man's concerns.
“Even though I didn’t get charged, it was the fact that you can discriminate against us for political belief," he stated.
In a tweet that has now gone viral, Matthew asked Uber to take action.
I requested an @Uber to go to a monthly DC MAGA meet-up at Trump Hotel; held my faithful red MAGA hat in my hand. Mr. Sadou looked at me and rudely said; “I cannot take this ride.” He had no right to refuse service, especially after the payment was accepted. @Uber, unacceptable!
— Matthew Handy (@Matthew_Handy) July 11, 2018
Matthew explained to Townhall that he received a few direct messages from Uber, as well as a few emails, but says they were computer-generated responses and that he got tired of replying.
"It was no help, just something they send out to kinda keep it quiet," he added.
Elijah, however, said he was in communication with someone from Uber and that the responses he is getting are coming from an actual person.
"Whenever I write questions, they answer those questions; it's not a generated email," he said. Elijah declined a request from Townhall to view those emails.
As for the driver, Matthew says he doesn't know if anything will happen to him. "There has to be something else other than just an email," he said.
While Adria hasn't reached out to Uber yet, she has plans to.
"I’m definitely going to reach out to them and express my concerns and the way I felt after the driver kicked us out," she told Townhall. "I just want Uber to take responsibility for the driver’s actions because he is contracted with them, and I think Uber should definitely discipline their driver."
Adria added that the company should consider implementing a form of diversity training, so its employees understand discrimination is more than just treating someone unfairly because of their race, gender or religion, but their political beliefs as well.
The company does have Community Guidelines posted publicly on their website; some of which include prioritizing safety, acknowledging fellow riders' and drivers' privacy and personal space, and respecting one another.
"Treat your fellow riders and drivers as you would like to be treated yourself: with respect," the page reads. "Most important of all, remember that when you use Uber you will meet people who may look different or think differently from you. Please respect those differences. We want everyone to feel welcome when they use Uber."
The company's discrimination policy is also published on the page:
Uber has a zero tolerance policy towards discrimination of any kind. This means you will lose access to your account if you are found to have discriminated against drivers or other riders based on their race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, gender identity, age or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.
Further down, the company adds that "it is not acceptable to discriminate on the basis of a rider’s destination."
"Actions like these may result in permanent deactivation of your [the driver's] account," Uber warns.
While the company says it does not tolerate discrimination of "any kind," political affiliation is missing from its list of protected characteristics.
In a statement to Townhall, an Uber spokesperson said, "We aim to provide a reliable service to everyone who uses Uber. We have reached out to both the rider and the driver, and continue to look into this."
The company also confirmed that the ride was canceled and that the group was not charged.
When asked if they plan to use Uber again, Matthew explained he has already canceled his account and deleted the app from his phone. Elijah is still considering it, stating, "Never had a problem like that before. Will I still user Uber? I am undecided."
Adria, on the other hand, is with Matthew, telling Townhall she will "never" use Uber again. In fact, she doesn't plan on using any ride-sharing service in the future.
"I'm frightened that something more serious could've happened, so I'm going to avoid all ride-sharing services for now," she explained.
Like the other passengers, Adria was taken aback by the driver's reaction to the hats. But, for her, it was more than that.
"This incident left me feeling unsafe, thinking of the what if’s. What if it was just one person and not a group? What would he have done?" she said. "How many times has this happened to other people, and nothing was done about it?"
An Uber driver denying service to four Congressional interns is yet another example of businesses or members of the general public refusing service or harassing supporters of the president, as well as his administration officials. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant by its manager, and a Whataburger patron assaulted a 16-year-old for wearing a MAGA hat.
When asked for his thoughts on the current political climate and the treatment of Trump supporters in general, Matthew told Townhall:
I mean, it’s a double standard because when we do something based on religious freedom or our own right, that’s a problem. But when you have these companies and organizations, refusing to serve us… that’s okay, that’s acceptable.... Uber does have something in their policy, you cannot refuse to give somebody a ride based on their political affiliation. Not only did he break some kind of merit, he broke their rules too. So there has to be some kind of consequences, him fired, or something.
Rep. Mike Bost also expressed his disappointment in the current political climate in a tweet defending Matthew.
.@Matthew_Handy is an incredibly respectful & polite young man who I am grateful to have as an intern in my office this summer. It's an absolute shame that the political climate has become so toxic and that incidents like this are becoming all too common. #NationalDayofCivility https://t.co/foLQRhMRp4
— Rep. Mike Bost (@RepBost) July 12, 2018
Elijah added:
I would say for someone to refuse anyone service because of their political affiliations, and to prejudge them before even engaging in a conversation is immoral. Just because you perceive someone to be a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s the way they are. Even though everyone has disagreements, we should still be able to agree to disagree and coexist.
When asked if she felt the need to conceal her political affiliations from now on, Adria told Townhall that was her initial reaction--but those feelings didn't last long.
"This is America. I will not sit around and be pushed back on, nor will I accept intolerance based on political views," she said. "I have never been hesitant about letting anyone know my political beliefs."
After the event, the four opted to take the Washington, D.C. metro home.