Have you noticed photos of friends on social media wearing safety pins starting to crop up over the past week? With several news outlets reporting a sudden rise in hate crimes some have started to wear safety pins. Wearing the safety pins sends a message that those individuals are “safe” allies, willing to step forward and accompany anyone feeling targeted or marginalized.
According to multiple news outlets, there has been a rise in hate crimes over the past week. A USA Today article was one of several written. I found their headline unsettling, Post-election spate of hate crimes worse than post-9/11, experts say, but what bothered me the most about the article was how little it surprised me. This quote shared on Facebook by my friend Don Hamel nicely articulates why I’m not surprised and why I’m so disappointed.
Not all Trump voters are racist, but all of them decided that racism (or homophobia, etc) isn’t a dealbreaker. And to me that is racism. It is easier to be racist to a large group of people you can’t see, don’t know, etc, as opposed to your neighbor or family member, but to me it’s racism just the same.
As Van Jones put it, Trump was willing to “throw some of us away to appeal more deeply to others”, and voting for him signifies that you were willing to throw some people away to get your agenda (which honestly may not even happen…what are the chances of Trump really helping the middle class or fixing healthcare).
I know some people commenting here who voted for Trump are loving and wonderful people but it’s just really really hard to get past the fact that racism, sexism, homophobia, etc was not a dealbreaker for people…
BosGuy 