Hate crimes have increased by 226% in places where Trump held a campaign rally in 2016

While there’s still too much we don’t know about collusion, we know more than enough about Trump’s cruelty.

In the past week:

1. A white nationalist attempted to burn down the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in California, leaving graffiti citing the Christchurch attack as inspiration.¹ And multiple Birmingham mosques were attacked using a sledgehammer.²
2. Immigration officials snatched, detained, and finally released a fourth grader who is a U.S. citizen as she was heading to school. "I was scared. I was completely by myself," said the sobbing 9-year-old.³

This is no coincidence. Trump and his enablers have fueled hate-based crises that are hurting Muslim, Jewish, Black, and immigrant communities. A newly released study from professors at the University of North Texas found that hate crimes have increased by 226% in places where Trump held a campaign rally in 2016.⁴

This Passover, Bend the Arc leaders across the country will be hosting teach-ins to educate and mobilize Jewish communities to resist the rise of white nationalism. 

As one journalist wrote on Twitter, “Without collusion, I'm concerned that the only thing Democrats will be able to use against Trump in 2020 is literally every other issue.”⁵

We don’t have to wait until 2020 to interrupt Trump’s callous cruelty. Trump declared a national emergency to get money to build his monument to white nationalism on our southern border, and has increased funding for federal agencies that terrorize immigrant communities.

Bend the Arc is organizing Jews right now to get Congress to defund the hate sowed by ICE and CBP, following the lead of our immigrant partners at Detention Watch Network, United We Dream, and more.

Our Washington team has identified critical members of Congress we need on our side, and our Field team is preparing leaders to activate the Jewish resistance around the country.

The more resources we gather now, the harder we can fight Trump’s immoral detention and deportation machine — and the closer we’ll get to our collective safety and liberation.

As Jews who reject Trump, we will never exonerate him for contributing to the destruction of our democracy, our communities, and the lives of too many people. We know that none of us is free until we are all free.

In solidarity,

The Bend the Arc team

Sources:

1. Washington Post, "A California mosque was set ablaze in ‘clear homage’ to the New Zealand terrorist attack"
2. Daily Star, "Five Birmingham mosques targeted in horror SLEDGEHAMMER attack"
3. Huffington Post, "Immigration Officials Snatch 9-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Heading To School, Hold Her For 2 Days"
4. Business Insider, "Hate crimes increased 226% in places Trump held a campaign rally in 2016, study claims"
5. https://twitter.com/MarkHarrisNYC/status/1109970197316882432