None of This Is Normal. All of It Is Un-American.
Published on
Friday, November 18, 2016
by
Common Dreams
None of This Is Normal. All of It Is Un-American.
Hate crimes after Donald Trump's election and his appointment of Steve
Bannon to the White House aren't the way to bring America back together.
by
Michael Winship
People protest the appointment of former Breitbart News head Steve Bannon to
be chief strategist of the White House by President-elect Donald Trump near
City Hall in Los Angeles on Nov. 16. (Photo: David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
A friend of mine who has dual Israeli-American citizenship tells the story
of entering an elevator in Jerusalem shortly after a bullying right-wing
government had taken over the country.
The other passenger was ostentatiously puffing on a big cigar. My friend
pointed to the no smoking sign and politely, in Hebrew, asked the man to
douse his smoke.
"Eff you," the man replied. "We're in charge now." Only he didn't say,
"Eff."
Sound familiar? Well, it's a tiptoe through the tulips compared to what's
going on in the United States right now.
The presidential campaign and now the election results have further allowed
the pinheads of society to let their racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and
Islamophobic freak flags fly.
Incidents of hate-related violence and other abuses have proliferated
throughout this lovely land of ours. The presidential campaign and now the
election results have further allowed the pinheads of society to let their
racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic freak flags fly. Despite
denials from many on the right and the Trump transition team, this is
really happening - unlike that avalanche of fake news stories that have been
overwhelming social media.
(And yes, I know have been scattered incidents in which Trump followers
have been vilified on the streets, but far fewer.)
Journalists who investigated Trump, his businesses, family and associates
have been mailed anti-Semitic screeds or threatened with violence and even
death. Women who have reported on Trump have been sent the vilest sexist
epithets. Kshama Sawant, the socialist city council member from Seattle who
recently urged protests at Trump's inauguration in January has been targeted
for email and phone attacks, some of which have suggested that she kill
herself.
Just about everyone I know has a story or two or three from the last week
and a half. My friend Deana tells of a part-Asian co-worker swung at by a
white male who mistook him as being from the Middle East, of a friend's
boyfriend who was told to "Go back to Africa" on his Facebook page, of
another friend's middle-school-aged daughter and other girls who were pushed
around by boys in her class, some wearing Trump T-shirts and shouting
hateful things about women.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC): "Between Wednesday, Nov. 9, the
day after the presidential election, and the morning of Monday, Nov. 14,
[SPLC] collected 437 reports of hateful intimidation and harassment. Venues
of harassment included K-12 schools (99), businesses (76) and universities
(67). Common also was vandalism and leafleting on private property (40) and
epithets and slurs hurled from moving vehicles (38)."
Between Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the presidential election, and the
morning of Monday, Nov. 14, [SPLC] collected 437 reports of hateful
intimidation and harassment.
- Southern Poverty Law Center
A new report from the FBI states that last year, hate crimes were up 6
percent, with a two-thirds increase in attacks against Muslims. According to
their statistics, "There were 5,818 single-bias incidents involving 7,121
victims. Of those victims, 59.2 percent were targeted because of a
race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 19.7 percent because of a religious bias; 17.7
percent because of a sexual-orientation bias; 1.7 percent because of a
gender-identity bias; 1.2 percent because of a disability bias; and 0.4
percent because of a gender bias."
Camila Domonosket at NPR notes, "The FBI report is based on local law
enforcement data. It almost certainly understates the scale of the problem:
In 2014, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated, based on victim
surveys, that 60 percent of hate crimes are never reported to police."
Here in New York City, the police department reports that so far in 2016,
hate crimes have jumped 30 percent from the same period last year,
"including a spike during last week's hotly contested presidential
election," according to DNAInfo New York. "NYPD statistics show that
anti-Muslim and anti-'sexual orientation' motivations were responsible for
much of the rise."
But what was Donald Trump's response to the reports of the upswing in hate
crimes after his election? "I am very surprised to hear that," he told 60
Minutes' Lesley Stahl. "I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that."
Lesley Stahl: But you do hear it?
Donald Trump: I don't hear it - I saw, I saw one or two instances.
Lesley Stahl: On social media?
Donald Trump: But I think it's a very small amount. Again, I think it's -
Lesley Stahl: Do you want to say anything to those people?
Donald Trump: I would say don't do it, that's terrible, 'cause I'm gonna
bring this country together.
Lesley Stahl: They're harassing Latinos, Muslims -
Donald Trump: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, "Stop it." If it -
if it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it.
"Stop it." Really? That's all? You sounded like a parent telling the kids in
the back seat to quit fidgeting. Make your condemnation swift, adamant and
loud. We know you know how to do loud. Demand that it cease.
And while we're at it, Mr. President-elect, the appointment of your campaign
CEO Steve Bannon as counselor and chief White House strategist makes a
hideous situation even worse. Cancel it.
This is, after all, the person who - more than a year ago! - Joshua Green at
Bloomberg BusinessWeek succinctly described as "the most dangerous political
operative in America."
Julia Zorthian at TIME magazine writes that as head of the alt-right news
website Breitbart, "Bannon has given voice to some of the unsavory forces
floating around the conservative movement's fringe, including a resurgence
of white nationalism. His appointment has fueled anger, with critics
decrying Bannon's connections to racist and anti-Semitic views."
In recent days, many of you have seen some of Breitbart's headlines: "Bill
Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew," "Birth control makes women
unattractive and crazy," "Would you rather your child had feminism or
cancer?" and "Gay rights have made us dumber, it's time to get back in the
closet."
Even The Washington Post's Kathleen Parker, who cut Bannon some slack in a
recent column, concluded that "he has been willing to strategically
encourage people's hate as a way of inciting them to action. How these
methods will manifest themselves in the White House remains to be seen. But
we can uncomfortably imagine that Trump under Bannon's direction will do
whatever it takes to get what he wants." Swell.
So hate speech and Steve Bannon: a perfect pair. Donald Trump, you've let
this evil genie out of the bottle. Set an example for a country so viciously
torn asunder.
Use one of your two remaining wishes and end this madness.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Michael Winship
Michael Winship, senior writing fellow at Demos and president of the Writers
Guild of America-East, was senior writer for Moyers & Company and Bill
Moyers' Journal and is senior writer of BillMoyers.com.
Skip to main content
//
. DONATE
. SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER
Friday, November 18, 2016
. Home
. World
. U.S.
. Canada
. Climate
. War & Peace
. Economy
. Rights
. Solutions
. President-Elect Donald Trump
. #NoDAPL
. 2016 Key Ballot Issues
. Election 2016
. Hillary Clinton
. Bernie Sanders
None of This Is Normal. All of It Is Un-American.
Published on
Friday, November 18, 2016
by
Common Dreams
None of This Is Normal. All of It Is Un-American.
Hate crimes after Donald Trump's election and his appointment of Steve
Bannon to the White House aren't the way to bring America back together.
by
Michael Winship
. 5 Comments
.
. People protest the appointment of former Breitbart News head Steve
Bannon to be chief strategist of the White House by President-elect Donald
Trump near City Hall in Los Angeles on Nov. 16. (Photo: David
McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
. A friend of mine who has dual Israeli-American citizenship tells the
story of entering an elevator in Jerusalem shortly after a bullying
right-wing government had taken over the country.
. The other passenger was ostentatiously puffing on a big cigar. My
friend pointed to the no smoking sign and politely, in Hebrew, asked the man
to douse his smoke.
. "Eff you," the man replied. "We're in charge now." Only he didn't
say, "Eff."
. Sound familiar? Well, it's a tiptoe through the tulips compared to
what's going on in the United States right now.
The presidential campaign and now the election results have further allowed
the pinheads of society to let their racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and
Islamophobic freak flags fly.
Incidents of hate-related violence and other abuses have proliferated
throughout this lovely land of ours. The presidential campaign and now the
election results have further allowed the pinheads of society to let their
racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic freak flags fly. Despite
denials from many on the right and the Trump transition team, this is really
happening - unlike that avalanche of fake news stories that have been
overwhelming social media.
(And yes, I know have been scattered incidents in which Trump followers have
been vilified on the streets, but far fewer.)
Journalists who investigated Trump, his businesses, family and associates
have been mailed anti-Semitic screeds or threatened with violence and even
death. Women who have reported on Trump have been sent the vilest sexist
epithets. Kshama Sawant, the socialist city council member from Seattle who
recently urged protests at Trump's inauguration in January has been targeted
for email and phone attacks, some of which have suggested that she kill
herself.
Just about everyone I know has a story or two or three from the last week
and a half. My friend Deana tells of a part-Asian co-worker swung at by a
white male who mistook him as being from the Middle East, of a friend's
boyfriend who was told to "Go back to Africa" on his Facebook page, of
another friend's middle-school-aged daughter and other girls who were pushed
around by boys in her class, some wearing Trump T-shirts and shouting
hateful things about women.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC): "Between Wednesday, Nov. 9, the
day after the presidential election, and the morning of Monday, Nov. 14,
[SPLC] collected 437 reports of hateful intimidation and harassment. Venues
of harassment included K-12 schools (99), businesses (76) and universities
(67). Common also was vandalism and leafleting on private property (40) and
epithets and slurs hurled from moving vehicles (38)."
Between Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the presidential election, and the
morning of Monday, Nov. 14, [SPLC] collected 437 reports of hateful
intimidation and harassment.
- Southern Poverty Law Center
A new report from the FBI states that last year, hate crimes were up 6
percent, with a two-thirds increase in attacks against Muslims. According to
their statistics, "There were 5,818 single-bias incidents involving 7,121
victims. Of those victims, 59.2 percent were targeted because of a
race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 19.7 percent because of a religious bias; 17.7
percent because of a sexual-orientation bias; 1.7 percent because of a
gender-identity bias; 1.2 percent because of a disability bias; and 0.4
percent because of a gender bias."
Camila Domonosket at NPR notes, "The FBI report is based on local law
enforcement data. It almost certainly understates the scale of the problem:
In 2014, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated, based on victim
surveys, that 60 percent of hate crimes are never reported to police."
Here in New York City, the police department reports that so far in 2016,
hate crimes have jumped 30 percent from the same period last year,
"including a spike during last week's hotly contested presidential
election," according to DNAInfo New York. "NYPD statistics show that
anti-Muslim and anti-'sexual orientation' motivations were responsible for
much of the rise."
But what was Donald Trump's response to the reports of the upswing in hate
crimes after his election? "I am very surprised to hear that," he told 60
Minutes' Lesley Stahl. "I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that."
Lesley Stahl: But you do hear it?
Donald Trump: I don't hear it - I saw, I saw one or two instances.
Lesley Stahl: On social media?
Donald Trump: But I think it's a very small amount. Again, I think it's -
Lesley Stahl: Do you want to say anything to those people?
Donald Trump: I would say don't do it, that's terrible, 'cause I'm gonna
bring this country together.
Lesley Stahl: They're harassing Latinos, Muslims -
Donald Trump: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, "Stop it." If it -
if it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it.
"Stop it." Really? That's all? You sounded like a parent telling the kids in
the back seat to quit fidgeting. Make your condemnation swift, adamant and
loud. We know you know how to do loud. Demand that it cease.
And while we're at it, Mr. President-elect, the appointment of your campaign
CEO Steve Bannon as counselor and chief White House strategist makes a
hideous situation even worse. Cancel it.
This is, after all, the person who - more than a year ago! - Joshua Green at
Bloomberg BusinessWeek succinctly described as "the most dangerous political
operative in America."
Julia Zorthian at TIME magazine writes that as head of the alt-right news
website Breitbart, "Bannon has given voice to some of the unsavory forces
floating around the conservative movement's fringe, including a resurgence
of white nationalism. His appointment has fueled anger, with critics
decrying Bannon's connections to racist and anti-Semitic views."
In recent days, many of you have seen some of Breitbart's headlines: "Bill
Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew," "Birth control makes women
unattractive and crazy," "Would you rather your child had feminism or
cancer?" and "Gay rights have made us dumber, it's time to get back in the
closet."
Even The Washington Post's Kathleen Parker, who cut Bannon some slack in a
recent column, concluded that "he has been willing to strategically
encourage people's hate as a way of inciting them to action. How these
methods will manifest themselves in the White House remains to be seen. But
we can uncomfortably imagine that Trump under Bannon's direction will do
whatever it takes to get what he wants." Swell.
So hate speech and Steve Bannon: a perfect pair. Donald Trump, you've let
this evil genie out of the bottle. Set an example for a country so viciously
torn asunder.
Use one of your two remaining wishes and end this madness.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
/author/michael-winship
/author/michael-winship/author/michael-winship
Michael Winship, senior writing fellow at Demos and president of the Writers
Guild of America-East, was senior writer for Moyers & Company and Bill
Moyers' Journal and is senior writer of BillMoyers.com.
