Today's topic was suggested by a good friend, another Sister Resister. Thanks, Karen!
One of the blights upon our country is racism and hate violence. This horrid set of behaviors has been around as long as people began to congregate into groups. In America, hate, unfortunately, has a thread in the underpinning of our nation's history. Much has been written about the increase in hate acts since November 8, 2016. Has there really been an increase? And what does it look like?
The topic is in the forefront of our minds. Just a couple weeks ago, two brave men died defending two young women, one black, one wearing a hijab, on a Portland train who were being harassed by a hateful man. The murderer was spouting hateful, racist remarks before three men confronted him. The murderer began stabbing. He killed two and seriously injured a third.. The city of Portland was wounded deeply by this hate crime, including my friend who asked me to write about it.
The Portland incident is just one of a large number of hate crimes committed since the election.
As Vox has reported, it is hard to measure the increase in hate crimes, as the FBI and other police organizations do not keep good statsitics on hate crimes. It is hard to track hate crimes for a variety of reasons, including the fact that police agencies vary on how they categorize crimes; the fact that some states don't have hate crime laws at all; as well as the fact that hate crime victims underreport the crimes against them. As hard as it is to measure the increase in hate crimes, I conclude that such crimes are probably vastly underreported, if anything.
Despite the difficulty in pinpointing hate crimes, there are some statistics that we can look to. The Southern Poverty Law Center has determined that there is an increase in hate groups. The Right should be able to agree to that fact: even Faux News reported the SPLC's findings. SLPC reports that hate groups against Muslims in particular tripled between 2015 and 2016.
If there is an increase in hate groups, it follows logically that there is an increase in hate violence. Peeple who convene on the basis of hating a group of fellow human beings are not sitting around crocheting doilies. The SPLC's report outlines an increase in hate crimes as well, citing FBI statistics, including a 67% increase in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in 2015 alone. The excellent article gives additional links to issues surrounding hate groups.
Before we go to too far into the effects, let us look at the source of the hate. The authority figure, the permission-giver: the Hater-in-Chief.
SCROTUS does not shy away from hateful rhetoric. He does not always reproach hateful rhetoric. In fact, he embraces it. He is, quite simply, a purveyor of hateful rhetoric. He has insulted Mexicans left and right, calling them rapists; he asserted that a federal judge with Mexican heritage could not be impartial because "he's a Mexican;" and, of course, he has his dream to build a wall.
His hatred toward Muslims, in words and actions, is well-documented. In words, for example, he insulted a Gold Star Family, who happened to be Muslim, when the soldier's father spoke about their hero son at the Democratic National Convention. And of course, his most famous action of Muslim hatred: his two executive orders -- luckily deemed illegal by the courts -- banning Muslims from certain countries. He targeted seven countries from which to ban Muslims, though no violent act in the US has been at the hands of any citizen of any of the targeted countries,. "Coincidentally," the countries who HAVE exported violent criminals to commit violent acts in the US but who do business with SCROTUS, are conspicuously off the ban list. Luckily, we have checks and balances, Bitch, and that sh*t won't fly in the courts!
I am not even going to touch his misogynstic rhetoric and actions in this post.
The man is a violent man. SCROTUS himself directly promoted violence at many of his campaign rallies. Washable has a ton of videos here, where the Orange Mussolini fosters violence against protesters. A wise Federal Judge has allowed a lawsuit to go ahead against SCROTUS which alleges he incited violence at one of his rallies.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a comprehensive article about what they call The Trump Effect, emboldening haters to act out their hate. Read it here.
There are many, many instances where SCROTUS inflamed his supporters and emboldened them to act out. There have been plenty of reports of violence in the name of The Tiny-Fisted Cheeto. It is really overwhelming how many hate crimes have been committed since the election. There are way too many to even give a representative few here. It's actually staggering, and quite sobering. There are groups tracking hate crimes, however, and I've included links below.
ThinkProgress has also compiled statistics more narrow than the SPLC's, but still alarming. They include an accounting of the increase in hate violence in our great land directly referenced to SCROTUS. From ThinkProgress:
Slate.com has an updating list of hate crimes reported across the country.
ProPublica is also tracking hate crimes across America.
These are difficult to read, but it is important that we do, and that we do not stick our heads in the sand, and that we do not let TЯUMP supporters whitewash the facts.
When your SCROTUS-supporting "friends" cry out about violence against TЯUMP supporters, you can cite ThinkProgress's statistics. They include an "other" category. Of the 261 hate crimes they documented in their report, 40 were against "others," which include "women, immigrants, Trump supporters, anti-Trump protestors and other individuals." Violence against SCROTUS supporters happens in very small numbers. So small that I had trouble finding incidents reported by reputable sources. One source I found was from Breitbart, which reported ten (10). Ahem. Breitbart. Ten. The SPLC reported 27.
Compare that to the 867 bias-reacted acts complied by the SPLC in the first 10 days after the election.
In the end, the fact of the matter is, our #AlternateLeader is horribly hateful. He is racist and misogynistic, and he advances those views among his followers. But even if he weren't, even if he didn't spew hateful remarks and incite violence, his silence in the face of violence is deafening. He has been slow to condemn violent acts, or quiet altogether, including being very slow to respond to the Portland train attacks.
Eldridge Cleaver remarked, "You either have to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem." SCROTUS is not only part of the problem; he is the problem.
There may not be an increase in hate itself in America. Hate has been around since the dawn of man. But in 2017, there is a well-documented increase in the boldness of haters to express their noxious viewpoints. That is a fact.
And so what do we do, brother and sister resisters? We continue on our path of love. We commit frequent Acts of Love. We engage people in conversation. We continue to be the ones who stand up to harassment. We urge our representatives to create legislation that punishes hate crimes and fosters love and acceptance, or at least tolerance. We continue to protest peacefully. We donate to organizations that resist hate, such as the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League. We love, fiercely and with abandon, every person that strives to live in peace within our great country's shores. And we drive out hate.
One of the blights upon our country is racism and hate violence. This horrid set of behaviors has been around as long as people began to congregate into groups. In America, hate, unfortunately, has a thread in the underpinning of our nation's history. Much has been written about the increase in hate acts since November 8, 2016. Has there really been an increase? And what does it look like?
The topic is in the forefront of our minds. Just a couple weeks ago, two brave men died defending two young women, one black, one wearing a hijab, on a Portland train who were being harassed by a hateful man. The murderer was spouting hateful, racist remarks before three men confronted him. The murderer began stabbing. He killed two and seriously injured a third.. The city of Portland was wounded deeply by this hate crime, including my friend who asked me to write about it.
 |
| Portraits of Three Heroes: Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23; Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, who survived the attack; and Rick Best, 53 |
The Portland incident is just one of a large number of hate crimes committed since the election.
As Vox has reported, it is hard to measure the increase in hate crimes, as the FBI and other police organizations do not keep good statsitics on hate crimes. It is hard to track hate crimes for a variety of reasons, including the fact that police agencies vary on how they categorize crimes; the fact that some states don't have hate crime laws at all; as well as the fact that hate crime victims underreport the crimes against them. As hard as it is to measure the increase in hate crimes, I conclude that such crimes are probably vastly underreported, if anything.
Despite the difficulty in pinpointing hate crimes, there are some statistics that we can look to. The Southern Poverty Law Center has determined that there is an increase in hate groups. The Right should be able to agree to that fact: even Faux News reported the SPLC's findings. SLPC reports that hate groups against Muslims in particular tripled between 2015 and 2016.
If there is an increase in hate groups, it follows logically that there is an increase in hate violence. Peeple who convene on the basis of hating a group of fellow human beings are not sitting around crocheting doilies. The SPLC's report outlines an increase in hate crimes as well, citing FBI statistics, including a 67% increase in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in 2015 alone. The excellent article gives additional links to issues surrounding hate groups.
Before we go to too far into the effects, let us look at the source of the hate. The authority figure, the permission-giver: the Hater-in-Chief.
SCROTUS does not shy away from hateful rhetoric. He does not always reproach hateful rhetoric. In fact, he embraces it. He is, quite simply, a purveyor of hateful rhetoric. He has insulted Mexicans left and right, calling them rapists; he asserted that a federal judge with Mexican heritage could not be impartial because "he's a Mexican;" and, of course, he has his dream to build a wall.
His hatred toward Muslims, in words and actions, is well-documented. In words, for example, he insulted a Gold Star Family, who happened to be Muslim, when the soldier's father spoke about their hero son at the Democratic National Convention. And of course, his most famous action of Muslim hatred: his two executive orders -- luckily deemed illegal by the courts -- banning Muslims from certain countries. He targeted seven countries from which to ban Muslims, though no violent act in the US has been at the hands of any citizen of any of the targeted countries,. "Coincidentally," the countries who HAVE exported violent criminals to commit violent acts in the US but who do business with SCROTUS, are conspicuously off the ban list. Luckily, we have checks and balances, Bitch, and that sh*t won't fly in the courts!
I am not even going to touch his misogynstic rhetoric and actions in this post.
The man is a violent man. SCROTUS himself directly promoted violence at many of his campaign rallies. Washable has a ton of videos here, where the Orange Mussolini fosters violence against protesters. A wise Federal Judge has allowed a lawsuit to go ahead against SCROTUS which alleges he incited violence at one of his rallies.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a comprehensive article about what they call The Trump Effect, emboldening haters to act out their hate. Read it here.
ThinkProgress has also compiled statistics more narrow than the SPLC's, but still alarming. They include an accounting of the increase in hate violence in our great land directly referenced to SCROTUS. From ThinkProgress:
And while Trump has done little to quell the rise in hate, the connection between many of these occurrences and his presidency is clear: 109 (42 percent) of the incidents we tracked over the past three months included specific references to Trump, his election, or his policies.
Slate.com has an updating list of hate crimes reported across the country.
ProPublica is also tracking hate crimes across America.
These are difficult to read, but it is important that we do, and that we do not stick our heads in the sand, and that we do not let TЯUMP supporters whitewash the facts.
When your SCROTUS-supporting "friends" cry out about violence against TЯUMP supporters, you can cite ThinkProgress's statistics. They include an "other" category. Of the 261 hate crimes they documented in their report, 40 were against "others," which include "women, immigrants, Trump supporters, anti-Trump protestors and other individuals." Violence against SCROTUS supporters happens in very small numbers. So small that I had trouble finding incidents reported by reputable sources. One source I found was from Breitbart, which reported ten (10). Ahem. Breitbart. Ten. The SPLC reported 27.
Compare that to the 867 bias-reacted acts complied by the SPLC in the first 10 days after the election.
In the end, the fact of the matter is, our #AlternateLeader is horribly hateful. He is racist and misogynistic, and he advances those views among his followers. But even if he weren't, even if he didn't spew hateful remarks and incite violence, his silence in the face of violence is deafening. He has been slow to condemn violent acts, or quiet altogether, including being very slow to respond to the Portland train attacks.
Eldridge Cleaver remarked, "You either have to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem." SCROTUS is not only part of the problem; he is the problem.
There may not be an increase in hate itself in America. Hate has been around since the dawn of man. But in 2017, there is a well-documented increase in the boldness of haters to express their noxious viewpoints. That is a fact.
And so what do we do, brother and sister resisters? We continue on our path of love. We commit frequent Acts of Love. We engage people in conversation. We continue to be the ones who stand up to harassment. We urge our representatives to create legislation that punishes hate crimes and fosters love and acceptance, or at least tolerance. We continue to protest peacefully. We donate to organizations that resist hate, such as the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League. We love, fiercely and with abandon, every person that strives to live in peace within our great country's shores. And we drive out hate.
Amen, sistah
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