Blame racist lies by Trump, Vance and other politicians for spike in hate crimes
"Since the 9/11 attacks, white supremacists and other right-wing terrorists have killed more Americans on U.S. soil than jihadists … White supremacists also often have greater political impact and have more support from pockets of Americans. Much of what they champion — anti-Black racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, virulent misogyny, and other causes — has echoes in the mainstream political debate." — terrorism expert Daniel Byman
While falling violent crime rates in the U.S. stubbornly refuse to conform to the scare tactics of some right-wing politicians, the scare tactics appear to have driven a spike in at least one category of offense: hate crimes.
Absent a coherent message on the economy, reproductive rights or foreign policy, the nation’s most extreme candidates for office are relying heavily on racist narratives about crime to scare voters.
FBI data released this week confirmed these narratives have no basis in fact. Not only did violent crime continue to fall in 2023, but the number of murders dropped at the fastest pace on record. The number of hate crimes, however, continued to rise.
Undoubtedly driven by racist conspiracy theories shared by politicians and extremist media personalities, the number of hate crimes reported rose by 2% in 2023. That followed a surge of 7% in 2022 and 11.5% in 2021.
The largest number of incidents were motivated by bias against Black people.
In 2023’s most horrific racially motivated attack, a 21-year-old white supremacist driven by dehumanizing stereotypes shot and killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, before killing himself.
Despite the clear risk of deadly consequences, some politicians continue to traffic in dehumanizing stereotypes.
Many Americans were aghast during the presidential debate when Donald Trump amplified a false rumor, shared by running mate JD Vance on social media the day before, accusing Haitian immigrants of stealing and eating pet dogs and cats.
But far from simply repeating a rumor he knew to be false, Vance played a major role in creating the anti-immigrant hysteria in the first place. His misrepresentation of Springfield’s request for housing aid as a “migrant crisis” attracted the attention of masked and armed neo-Nazis, who marched through the town.
Vance further fanned the flames of racial hatred by falsely claiming an 11-year-old boy who died in a motor vehicle accident "was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here." The driver, like most Haitian immigrants, holds temporary protected status and was in the United States legally.
Since Vance and Trump have amplified the false claims, Springfield has been the target of at least 33 bomb threats.
People have been committing hate crimes in Trump’s name ever since he launched his campaign with slurs against Mexican immigrants. A Cleveland man arrested for threatening his Black neighbors with a knife declared “Donald Trump will fix them.”
A self-professed white supremacist in Olympia, Washington, charged with attacking an interracial couple, said "he planned on heading down to the next Donald Trump rally and stomping out more of the Black Lives Matter group."
A police chief in New Jersey was recorded saying "Donald Trump is the last hope for white people" shortly after he assaulted a Black teenager who was in handcuffs.
It is clear Trump has no intention of abandoning the strategy that propelled him to the White House and carried him through his single term as president. The people of Springfield, for their part, have rejected Trump and Vance’s lies about their immigrant community. The rest of the nation must follow their example.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002. He writes a twice-monthly column for the Sun-Times.
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