It only took 72 hours for hate-based violence to produce 3 hate-filled crimes and 3 hate-filled suspects. Is this the future for the America we live in?
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Racism, Anti-Semitism, and political divisiveness are each responsible for a string of hate-based violence over a few short days — providing a mockery to the idea of a “UNITED” States of America. Let’s take a look at the series of events that are beginning to define what some say is the true America.
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RACIAL HATE-BASED VIOLENCE
On Wednesday, a white man with a history of violence randomly shot and killed 2 two African-Americans at a Kroger grocery store near Louisville, KY, following a failed attempt to barge into a black church. The suspect, 51-year-old Gregory A. Bush was arrested shortly after the shooting.
“Our hearts break for the families of the those we lost to the tragedy at the Jeffersontown Kroger,” Russell M. Coleman, the US attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said in a statement Friday. “The murders are not being taken lightly by the United States government. Federal investigators are supporting local law enforcement and examining this matter from the perspective of federal criminal law, which includes potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes.”
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POLITICAL HATE-BASED VIOLENCE
On Friday, police arrested 56-year-old Cesar Altieri Sayoc for the multiple pipe bombs he mailed to more than a dozen high-ranking Democratic government officials and media figures. After showing zero interest in politics for most of his life, officials say the emergence of Donald Trump’s candidacy for president “spoke to him” and made him feel as if someone understood him.
“(Sayoc) Had no interest in politics, was always at the night clubs, the gyms, wherever he thought he could meet people, impress people. And along came the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, who welcomed all extremists, all outsiders, all outliers, and he felt that somebody was finally talking to him,” Sayoc’s former attorney, Ronald Lowy, said of the former client he calls a “sick individual.”
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Trump campaigned using taunts and suggestions that all the Cesar Sayocs could have heard as calls to violent action. When a protester interrupted a rally, Trump announced that he would “like to punch him in the face” and waxed sentimental about the days when protesters would be “carried out on stretchers.” (Donald Trump) offered to pay the legal bills for those who assault his protesters. Trump allies and fans rejected the notion that he was playing a dangerous game and instead praised his willingness to forgo political correctness and speak plainly. However, this wasn’t plain speech, it was incitement, and the notion that milder rhetoric is somehow less sincere is absurd. – CNN
When Sayoc was arrested, the van he was living in was covered with decals and stickers featuring loving images of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, as well as Republican “targets” depicted in the crosshairs of a rifle. Officials also noted Sayoc’s devoted Trump disciple status via the abundance of photos of himself at Trump rallies he posted to Facebook, as well as a multitude of Twitter posts involving conservative memes and conspiracy theories.
Although federal authorities have been careful not to say what they believe motivated the Trump fanatic, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was adamant in calling the 13 pipe bombs “political violence” and Sayoc a political “partisan.” Interestingly, Donald Trump continues to refuse to accept any responsibility in the role he may have played in encouraging Sayoc to act, and is instead sticking with the theory that his opponents and various media figures are the real culprits in America’s increased rancor. Also, despite an arrest and an admission from Sayoc, many Trump supporters continue to believe the bombs were “fake news” and were sent by Democrats to themselves in order to affect the midterm election.
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Trump never pivoted from his destructive campaign mode to become a leader of all the American people. Just weeks ago, he praised fellow Republican Greg Gianforte for assaulting a reporter who had asked him a question. “Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of … He was my guy,” said Trump. (His) encouragement of violence, combined with rhetoric about the press being “enemies of the people” and political opponents being un-American, are green lights for those who are vulnerable to suggestion. Worse, when you think about the President’s impact on fevered minds, is his penchant for conspiracy theories. With no evidence, he recently suggested terrorists were among immigrants now marching toward the United States. – CNN
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RELIGIOUS HATE-BASED VIOLENCE
The deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history occurred Saturday when a gunman shot and killed 11 inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
After telling a SWAT officer that he wanted all Jews to die and that Jews were committing genocide against his people, 46-year-old Robert Bowers now faces 29 federal charges, including 2 hate crime counts, 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder, multiple counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, as well as obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer.
“It is simply unconscionable for Jews to be targeted during worship on a Sabbath morning, and unthinkable that it would happen in the United States of America in this day and age,” the Anti-Defamation League said.
“We’re definitely in a period in our country where there’s a general decrease in civility,” said Aryeh Tuchman, associate director for the ADL’s Center on Extremism. “People in the past who have tamped down their anti-Semitic proclivities may feel more liberated to express them than before,” he added.
“The crimes of violence are based upon the federal civil rights laws prohibiting hate crimes,” US Attorney Scott W. Brady and Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge of Pittsburgh office, said in a statement.
In condemnation of the Pittsburgh attack, the Rabbinical Assembly said the shooting was a reminder that anti-Semitism “is on the rise in America at a rate unprecedented in decades.”
“This vicious hate crime, perpetrated against innocent people at prayer is but the latest in an escalating scourge of hate-based violence in America,” it said.
What’s behind the increased hate-based violence in America? Why are people with various racial, religious, and political differences suddenly unable to coexist within the same airspace without resorting to war? Exactly who or what is mostly responsible for the uptick in violent acts between American neighbors?
More importantly, is it too late to save America from itself, or is decorum dead and hate and violence inevitable?
Thanks DJ – especially for including the Kentucky killings in your piece because frankly ,IMO, the news media has NOT given nearly enough attention to those 2 killings. You covered the trifecta of Hate in this country right now – deliberately fomented by the White nationalist creature in the Oval Office and fully embraced by approx 35-40% of Americans. Okay so this morning I awoke with this thought in mind…… In 2008, I watched an HBO miniseries “John Adams” which chronicles “most” of U.S. Pres. John Adams’s political life and his role in the founding of Our nation. “Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries is based on the book John Adams by David McCullough. The biopic of John Adams and the story of the first 50 years of the United States was broadcast in seven parts by HBO between March 16 and April 20, 2008. The mini-series received widespread… Read more »