人兽性交

In August 2015, two Boston men returning home late after a Red Sox game happened upon a homeless Mexican immigrant sleeping outside a commuter rail station. They beat him with a metal pipe, punched him repeatedly, urinated on him and called him a 鈥渨------.鈥� Then they high-fived each other as they walked away, leaving Guillermo Rodriguez with broken ribs and fingers and other injuries.

When they were arrested a short time later, one of them, 38-year-old Scott Leader, told arresting officers, 鈥淒onald Trump was right. All these illegals need to be deported.鈥� Later, but long before they were sentenced to terms of two and three years, they whined that authorities only arrested whites, 鈥渘ever the minorities.鈥�

To these men, Donald Trump was a hero 鈥� and an inspiration.

Photo credit: Lincoln Agnew

After all, Trump had kicked off his presidential bid two months earlier with a speech describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers. He later called the Mexican government 鈥渢otally corrupt.鈥� He promised to build a wall along the 2,000-mile Mexico-U.S. border. He told an audience in New Hampshire that a plane overhead 鈥渃ould be a Mexican plane up there, they鈥檙e getting ready to attack.鈥� And he insisted that an Indiana-born federal judge could not preside fairly over a civil racketeering case against his Trump University because 鈥渉e鈥檚 a Mexican.鈥�

And that was just Trump鈥檚 talk about 鈥淢exicans.鈥�

By the time he won the election, Trump had called for a 鈥渢otal and complete shutdown鈥� of Muslims entering the country. He had lied about personally witnessing 鈥渢housands鈥� of Muslims in New Jersey cheering as the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11. He had attacked a Muslim Gold Star family, insinuating that Khizr Khan, whose son died in Iraq, was a terrorist sympathizer. He had retweeted utterly bogus claims that black people were responsible for 80% of the murders of whites. He had cozied up to some of the country鈥檚 hardest line gay-bashers. He had retweeted anti-Semitic memes and called many immigrants 鈥渘ot well.鈥� He had attacked a debate moderator by insinuating that her tough questions were the result of her menstrual cycle. And his earlier boasts about grabbing women by the genitals had been revealed.

Trump also had repeatedly encouraged violence.

After a Black Lives Matter activist was beaten at a Trump rally in Birmingham, Ala., he told Fox News that 鈥渕aybe he should have been roughed up.鈥� In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he urged supporters to 鈥渒nock the crap鈥� out of protesters, adding, 鈥淚 promise you, I will pay your legal fees.鈥� When a backer at a Fayetteville, N.C., rally sucker-punched a black protester being led away by police 鈥� an act described by the local sheriff as 鈥渁 cowardly, unprovoked attack鈥� 鈥� Trump told two national news outlets that he was looking into paying the man鈥檚 legal fees.

Through it all, Trump was heedless, rejecting calls from left and right to tamp down the insults and the violence they were spawning. His reaction to the beating of Guillermo Rodriguez was typical. While the attack was 鈥渁 shame,鈥� Trump鈥檚 main conclusion was that 鈥減eople who are following me are very passionate.鈥�

Taking Stock

In the immediate aftermath of the election, the Southern Poverty Law Center (人兽性交) noticed a dramatic jump in hate violence and incidents of harassment and intimidation around the country. At the same time, a wave of incidents of bullying and other kinds of harassment washed over the nation鈥檚 K-12 schools. The 人兽性交 decided to make an effort to document all of this in real time.

The ugly evidence of hatred unleashed had already become apparent before Election Day. An earlier 人兽性交 study of the impact in K-12 schools of Trump鈥檚 bigoted rhetoric and encouragement of violence during his campaign had found massive anecdotal evidence of a rise in bullying and anxiety in classrooms.

There was even evidence that Trump鈥檚 attacks on Muslims during 2015 鈥� when he called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., suggested a registry for Muslims already here, and proposed to surveil mosques 鈥� had had an effect that early. The FBI reported that anti-Muslim hate crimes went up by 67% in 2015, while other categories rose only slightly. It seemed obvious that Trump鈥檚 rhetoric, along with Islamic State atrocities, had driven anti-Muslim hatred to new highs, with the 2015 anti-Muslim hate crime count registering the highest number since 2001.

These trends only worsened after the election.

In its post-election first study, looking at harassment and intimidation in the first 10 days after Trump鈥檚 election, the 人兽性交 counted 867 hate incidents, some of them amounting to hate crimes, around the country. It collected information from media reports, social media, and through a #ReportHate page set up on the 人兽性交 website, excluding incidents found to be hoaxes.

The results were disheartening.

鈥淚 have experienced discrimination in my life, but never in such a public and unashamed manner,鈥� an Asian-American woman reported after a man told her to 鈥済o home鈥� as she left a train station in Oakland, Calif. A black man whose apartment was vandalized with the phrase 鈥�911 n-----鈥� said that he had 鈥渘ever witnessed anything like this.鈥� A Los Angeles woman, who encountered a man who told her he was 鈥淸g]onna beat [her] p----,鈥� said she had been in the neighborhood 鈥渁ll the time and never experienced this type of language before.鈥� Not far away, in Sunnyvale, Calif., a transgender person reported being targeted with slurs at a bar where 鈥淚鈥檝e been a regular customer for three years 鈥� never had any issues.鈥�

Incidents were reported in nearly every state. The largest portion (323 incidents) occurred on university campuses or in K-12 schools. The incidents were dominated by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim incidents (together, 329), but included ones that were anti-black (187), anti-Semitic (100), anti-LGBT (95), anti-woman (40) and white nationalist (32). A small sliver of them (23) were anti-Trump, but the vast majority appeared to be celebrating his election victory.

When the 人兽性交 first released these findings, right-wing media outlets claimed that there was no evidence that they were related to Trump or the election. But that is false. For one thing, the largest number of incidents occurred on the day after the election, and they declined fairly steadily for the nine days after that.

Later, when the 人兽性交 updated its findings to cover the first 34 days after the election, it counted a total of 1,094 bias incidents around the nation. Importantly, it also calculated that 37% of them directly referenced either President-elect Trump, his campaign slogans, or his infamous remarks about sexual assault. Just 26 were anti-Trump, with six of those explicitly anti-white.

Particularly noteworthy in this longer period was a string of letters, describing Muslims as 鈥淐hildren of Satan鈥� and a 鈥渧ile and filthy people,鈥� sent to 15 mosques and Islamic centers around the country between Nov. 23 and Dec. 2. Also during that period, there were 57 incidents of extremist posters and flyers appearing, about three-quarters of them at university campuses, where emboldened white nationalists have been hard at work since the election. Thirty-four campuses were hit.

Hate Goes to School

The 人兽性交鈥檚 first, pre-election look at bias incidents in K-12 schools was based on responses from about 2,000 educators. In its post-election survey, however, the 人兽性交 got responses to its online survey from more than 10,000 teachers, counselors, administrators and others who work in schools. Although the survey was not scientific, with such a large response it was hard to dismiss the findings.

Ninety percent of the respondents said that the climate of their schools had been affected negatively by the election. A full 80% described heightened anxiety on the part of students worried about the impact on them and their families. There were reports of slurs, derogatory language, and incidents involving extremist symbols.

Eight in 10 educators reported fears on the part of marginalized students including immigrants, Muslims, African Americans and LGBT people. Four in 10 heard derogatory language directed at minority students. More than 2,500 described instances of bigotry and harassment directly related to election rhetoric. Two out of 10 had heard derogatory comments about white students, although few of them were made directly to those students. Most were remarks about whites voting for Trump.

An Arizona high school counselor reported white students holding up a Confederate flag in a school assembly. A middle school teacher in Washington told of a student blurting out in class, 鈥淚 hate Muslims.鈥� A Georgia high school teacher said many students were making jokes 鈥渁bout Hispanic students 鈥榞oing back to Mexico.鈥欌�� Another teacher in Oregon described a black girl running out of a classroom in tears after being racially harassed in two classes. A Massachusetts middle school teacher described how a white student, on the day after the election, went around asking each non-white student he passed, 鈥淎re you legal?鈥�

鈥淭his is my 21st year of teaching,鈥� a Georgia elementary school teacher reported. 鈥淭his is the first time I鈥檝e had a student call another student the 鈥榥鈥� word. This incident occurred the day after a conference with the offender鈥檚 mother. During the conference, the mother made her support of Trump known and expressed her hope that 鈥榯he blacks鈥� would soon know their place again.鈥�

Words Have Consequences

Four days after the election, Donald Trump was interviewed on 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� where he was asked about the hate. He said he was 鈥渟urprised to hear鈥� about it, and, looking into the camera, told the perpetrators to 鈥渟top it.鈥� In another interview, he promised to 鈥渂ind the wounds of division鈥� that were afflicting our country.

His comments were a day late and a dollar short. The hatred, and the new energy of the white nationalist movement, were predictable results of the campaign Trump waged 鈥� a campaign marked by incendiary racial statements, the stoking of white racial resentment, and attacks on so-called 鈥減olitical correctness.鈥�

A few weeks later, Trump acknowledged what he had not earlier. In a post-election speech in Orlando, Fla., part of his 鈥渢hank you鈥� tour, he responded to the crowd chanting 鈥淟ock her up鈥� with this: 鈥淔our weeks ago, you people were vicious, violent, screaming, 鈥榃here鈥檚 the wall? We want the wall! 鈥� 鈥楶rison! Prison! Lock her up!鈥� I mean, you were going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right? Now, same crowds 鈥� but it鈥檚 much different. You鈥檙e laid back, you鈥檙e cool, you鈥檙e mellow. You鈥檙e basking in the glory of victory.鈥�

Donald Trump is not legally responsible for any of this, of course. The people who engaged in legally punishable hate violence, if they are caught, are the ones who will have to actually pay for their crimes. But it seems undeniable that Trump鈥檚 reckless, populist campaign has left a legacy of hatred, violence and division.