Over the last few days, Trump hate crimes committed by his supporters have risen all across the United States. While the media has largely focused on the protesters objecting to the impending presidency of Donald Trump , the endless stream of racist abuse, threats, and attacks by white supremacists who now feel emboldened is largely going unreported.
More than 300 hate crimes have been reported to @splcenter since the election of Donald Trump. It’s been a week. https://t.co/CKbAtkZ5mk
— Jamil Smith ???? ???? (@JamilSmith) November 15, 2016
Increasing Hate Crime Incidents
Across the country, people of color or different ethnicities have experienced a rising tide of intolerance and abuse at the hands of many white Americans. In addition to threats of physical violence on the street and in the workplace, a number of blacks, Hispanics, and others have found racist graffiti painted on their cars, homes, and outside their places of work.
Of course, there has always been a white supremacist element in the United States, such as the Ku Klux Klan. But as reported by Tribune Media , the fact that Donald Trump has been elected with the enthusiastic support of the KKK and other white supremacist groups seems to have made such hate crimes even more common.
‘Americans are terrified’: Jake Tapper makes Paul Ryan answer for wave pro-Trump hate crimes https://t.co/7sLrTvqflv pic.twitter.com/qC2YqTbtbb
— Raw Story (@RawStory) November 13, 2016
And even worse, these hate crimes are not limited to clashes between protesters or even to adults. As reported by ABC News , in schools and colleges across the country, racist incidents are occurring with a much higher frequency than we have seen in recent years. There haven’t been this many racist incidents since the days following 9/11.
Hate Crimes and Donald Trump
Hate crimes like we’re seeing now don’t happen in a vacuum. Following the election of Donald Trump as our new president, anyone reacting to the upsurge in hate crimes across the United States with surprise clearly hasn’t been paying attention to Trump or his fanatical supporters.
The things that Donald Trump said and did over the last year – not to mention before running for president – laid the groundwork for what’s happening now. Trump recently going on 60 Minutes and telling these people to “stop it” clearly isn’t enough.
And Donald Trump’s first decisions as president-elect haven’t inspired any confidence that he will be able to change the racist tenor he helped create surrounding his campaign. For instance, the appointment of Stephen Bannon – who headed the Trump campaign in the last few months – as chief strategist is disquieting.
As reported by Associated Press , Bannon is a notorious champion of the white nationalist movement in the United States. His racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant statements both before and after he was in charge of Breitbart News speak for themselves. Even many Republicans are shocked – but hardly surprised – that Donald Trump made this choice.
Warren slams Bannon: “People didn’t vote for Trump so that he could bring a white supremacist into the White House.” pic.twitter.com/ytL2eHDeJh
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 15, 2016
Reasons Supporters of Trump Hate
Crimes supposedly committed by Mexicans, Muslims, and inner-city blacks are the principal excuse that Trump supporters use for their own hate crimes. They create a stereotype based on a handful of individuals to support their fears. The fact that their beliefs have no basis in fact doesn’t stop them.
In fact, statistics showed that first-generation immigrants from Mexico actually commit fewer crimes than naturalized immigrants who have been here for a generation or more. And both groups – per capita – commit fewer crimes than the average American.
The Donald Trump hate crimes resulting from his speeches and rhetoric, as well as the propaganda put out by his campaign and his supporters, aren’t going to go away just because the campaign has come to an end. In fact, it seems to be getting worse day by day.
In addition, Donald Trump’s decision to essentially continue the campaign by going on a victory lap around the country and holding further rallies will almost certainly fan the flames of racism and ethnic intolerance even further. The Trump hate crimes mindset created by the Republican nominee over the last few months has gone from being deplorable to being the way of things now.
Editor’s note: this story initially named the John Birch Society as a racist organization in line with the KKK. When members of JBS reached out, we offered them an opportunity to respond and clarify the nature of the organization.
“The John Birch Society is made up of men and women of all races, colors, and creeds united by a simple mission statement: ‘Less government, more responsibility, and with God’s help, a better world.’ We are all driven by a profound respect for the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, for our defense of the Constitution and our efforts to expose those who would subvert it, we have been attacked by many. If you do your own research, though, you will find the truth. Check us out online at www.jbs.org to learn more.”
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
