Everyone knows this, but I’m going to repeat it for the millionth time: Donald Trump is our next President. Yes, the man who has said racist things about minorities. Yes, the man who said that we should build a wall in Mexico and prevent Middle Eastern immigrants from entering our country. Yes, the man who likes to grab women by “the pu**y” because he thinks he’s famous enough to get away with it. Yes, the man who’s close to Putin and praises dictators past and present. Yes, this man is going to rule America and help the world for the next four years. For me, two weeks later, the shock has worn out and the Trump presidency has sank in for me. For America, not so much. The shock is still there and people are on fire. People are afraid of the Trump presidency for good reasons. One of them is the increasing hate crimes to minorities.
Since Election Day, over 200 hate crimes have been reported. In Silver Spring, MD, where I went to school and currently do shows at, a Spanish church was vandalized. The back of the church’s banner and a brick wall wrote: “TRUMP NATION: WHITES ONLY!” In New York, swastikas took over a residence hall at the New School, a college in New York City. This also happened in University of California at San Diego, along with adding the words, “HEIL TRUMP!” At Penn State, a group of African American freshmen were added to a message on GroupMe by a user named Daddy Trump. “Daddy Trump” put down violent threats, racist terms, and disturbing pictures of lynchings. In Michigan, a Muslim woman was forced to remove her hijab after a man threatened to burn her.
But, then it gets personal. My best friend (who now wants to be anonymous, so she can put the incident behind her) was assaulted a couple of days after the election on her campus. When she was getting a drink, a group of white boys called her “ni**er,” “bitch,” and “house slave” with one student grabbing his “pu**y.” The next day, another group of white boys stared her down. This has never happened to her once at her college.
People have told me not to blame this on Trump because these people were naturally racist. I respect their views, but I need to disagree with them. Yes, they always have been racist. But, why is all of this suddenly happening? Why did 3 of these 5 attacks had to mention Trump? And why was my best friend suddenly attacked with racism at her college? The answer is clear: They are inspired by Trump. Because of Trump’s remarks, along with the approval of Trump from the Neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists now think they run America and they have power over minorities. So, they will attack minorities because they think society proves of it and really, it doesn’t.
Someone close to me pointed out that some of these attacks aren’t actually by supremacists, but minorities to make white people and Trump look bad. This is true and possible because recently, a black man burned his own black church to make it look like a racist attack. At this point, it doesn’t matter who did it and why. Even if the attacks were by minorities to stir up fear, they’re doing the jobs for supremacists. This is what supremacists want: To spread hate and fear to people different from them.
Donald Trump isn’t actually the problem here. Rather, the problems are hatred, violence, and ignorance. However, Donald Trump needs to do more. His weak “Stop! Stop it!” that is comparable to the recently-late Gene Wilder’s dry acting scenes in “Willy Wonka” won’t do it. He needs to release a full statement on these acts. I hope Donald Trump proves everyone wrong and reaches out to ALL people in America, so these supremacists can know that Trump loves everyone, including minorities. In other words, have Trump prove that love really TRUMPS over hate.
