The rise in hate crimes since the November election is frightening. Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, women, and the LGBT community have experienced a large increase in crimes directed at them for no other reason than their race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. This is a direct result of the “Trump effect.” During his rallies he constantly preached hatred and violence, and when he was elected, his ignorant supporters decided that they were empowered to commit their crimes.

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. More than 50 groups who reject Trump and his racist policies will begin protesting today, and will continue throughout the inauguration.

“Just four days after MLK Day, we’ll witness the inauguration of a president who is the antithesis of everything Dr. King stood for; a demagogue who galvanized millions by spewing hate and promising to harm the most vulnerable in this nation,” movement organizers said in a statement for the “Resist and Reclaim MLK” campaign.

“Black people and other people of color are being targeted by vigilantes, our places of worship are being burned, our children are being attacked at school and the promise of more ‘law and order’ policing leaves us even more vulnerable to police terror,” organizers wrote.

Last Saturday, the students of U C Davis filled the streets of that small city in protest to a planned rally. The speakers were to be two men who share Trump’s hateful beliefs. Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart News, and Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of the pharmaceutical company who raised a life-saving drug 750 percent were invited by extremist Republican groups. Yiannopoulos is a member of Alt-Right, a white supremacist group, and an avowed bigot. Shkreli is a homophobe who was recently indicted by the Securities Exchange Commission.

Republican students claimed that the protests, which blocked the entrances to the venue, were in violation of free speech. I didn’t see it that way. There are reasons it is unlawful to yell “fire” in a movie theater, and speech which promotes hatred and violence falls under that same category.

Contrary to reports from Breitbart, the rally remained peaceful.

Hate is a crime in itself. You have a president-elect whose campaign was based on this vile emotion. It destroys; it never elevates any individual to perform positive action.

Any place Trump goes in the United States, he will experience large protests from various groups.

Each march planned by these 50 groups has a theme attached to it. You can read the list on the attached file.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

Source

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You can read “Four More Years” and my other four novels on the free Amazon Kindle app