Hilary Hanson
The Huffington Post

Kal Penn is turning racist vitriol into meaningful action to help other people.

On Saturday, the Indian-American actor posted a screenshot on Instagram showing a text-message conversation with a friend. The friend was talking about an Iraqi refugee turned away from the United States in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order halting the U.S. refugee program and suspending immigration from several countries.

‪My friend Mike just sent this heartbreaking text about his refugee friend. Families are being torn apart. Shame on us. This is un-American. ‬What Donald Trump and the Republican Party are doing is wholly unAmerican.

A photo posted by Kal Penn (@kalpenn) on Jan 28, 2017 at 9:24am PST

Someone then messaged Penn saying that he doesn’t “belong in this country” and is a “fucking joke.”

So Penn responded in about the best way possible: by raising money to help refugees.

To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian Refugees in your name. (Clickable link in my profile if you would like to donate!) https://www.crowdrise.com/donating-to-syrian-refugees-in-the-name-of-the-dude-who-said-i-dont-belong-in-america/fundraiser/kalpenn

A photo posted by Kal Penn (@kalpenn) on Jan 28, 2017 at 11:56am PST

“To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian Refugees in your name,” Penn wrote in a follow-up Instagram post.

The CrowdRise fund, which benefits the International Rescue Committee, doesn’t appear to actually show the person’s name, at least publicly. But by mid-afternoon Saturday, it had raised over $15,000 for the cause, and the amount was rapidly growing.

Some people have donated under the names “Melania Trump,” “Donald Trump” and “Chief Strategist Steve Bannon,” but we’re going to go out on a limb and assume those are pseudonyms.

@kalpenn Props to the person who donated in Steve Bannon’s name! Let’s keep it going! https://t.co/NOR5P48fBi #RefugeesWelcome #resist 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/c2U1U4N348

— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) January 28, 2017

Way to go, Kal!