South Side Pastor on Why He Rushed Trump's Stage in Chicago

A South Side Chicago pastor who took to the stage at Donald Trump's aborted Chicago rally in the UIC Pavilion says the atmosphere he saw among Trump supporters that night was "toxic."

In the days since, Jedidiah Brown says, he's received many death threats.

The intensity and turmoil in the U.S. presidential election has the world watching intently. Brown recently gave an interview to TRT World, a channel of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.

He said he ran for the stage after Trump supporters insulted him.

"I was met with a lot of racism and a lot of unbecoming remarks," Brown said. "They were telling everybody to go back to Africa, go back to Syria ...

"It was very disheartening."

Brown praised Chicago's response to Trump's brand of politics.

"Chicago is a tough city made up of tough people," he said. "You have a lot of people here who will stand for justice."

CNN and other networks continue to air video of Brown on the stage ripping up a Trump sign, shouting down into the assembly and being dragged away by security staff. Brown said he was briefly detained afterward by police but was not arrested.

Brown said Trump fans are threatening his life at his home and on social media. On Monday, he gave an interview to DNAinfo Chicago about his decision to rush the stage.

“When I was standing in line for the concession stand, I was asked if I was going to pay for it with welfare,” Brown told the program. “I looked at the guy and said, ‘This kind of hatred can’t go unchallenged,’ and then I bolted for the stage.”

What did he yell from the podium?

“I was telling them America is already great without hatred,” said Brown, an anti-violence advocate who is president of the Young Leaders Alliance in Chicago. Brown is known for efforts to try to quell violent retaliations in neighborhoods plagued by gang warfare.

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Trump has said "we are going to take our country back from those people," referring to protesters and "disruptors" who come to his rallies. Speaking Monday on various network shows described, Trump described his rallies as "love fests" and said few, if any, people have been injured.

Brown says he saw something different.

“One guy told me he would take me and my entire family out to preserve America. I’m not concerned about it because I know they’re not going to come to the South Side of Chicago.”