In the past few years, this nation has seen politicians, political pundits and community leaders give speeches laced with hateful rhetoric — rhetoric that demonizes certain groups and blames the nation’s problems on others.
It is not surprising with the surge of hateful rhetoric coming from people in such great positions of power that hateful actions have surged as well. Especially when their rhetoric directly calls for violence.
President Donald Trump has urged violence against those who he deems his political opponents, including sharing a tweet with a gif depicting him body slamming CNN and calling for violence against protestors at his campaign rallies.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the month following the 2016 presidential election, hate crimes jumped nationally from an average of 16 instances a day to 90 instances a day.
Anti-Semitic incidents around the nation rose significantly following the 2016 election, but this is not a problem that excludes Auburn.
It was just over a year ago when Richard Spencer came to Auburn’s campus, and since then, violence has directly followed his rallies and speeches — the most obvious example being Charlottesville, Virginia.
Just over a year ago, Auburn’s White Student Union popped up and is seemingly still active.
It was just before that time that the sign outside Foy Hall was changed to read “Goy Hall,” an anti-Semitic slur — an obvious, tangible instance of hate on campus.
In Alabama, there are 23 active hate groups as designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center. These include various Ku Klux Klan groups,white nationalist organizations and Auburn’s White Student Union.
What these all have in common is that they direct their anger and vitriol toward another group of people. These organizations remained outside of mainstream thought for a decent portion of time, but as those in power have directed their anger and blame toward certain groups of people, hateful speech has entered mainstream thought, and hate crimes have grown more prominent.
This type of speech has dehumanized entire groups. By generalizing them as “threats” or “criminals,” this type of rhetoric has normalized prejudice and demoted groups of people from full personhood to subhuman. This is so effective that Americans are willing to support stripping citizenship from those born in this country whose parents may not have been.
Now that these ideas have entered the populace’s consciousness, it has become more commonplace for these ideas to manifest themselves in the form of violence.
This was particularly apparent in the recent attack against the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was motivated by an extremist, far-right and anti-Semitic perspective, and in the mail bombs sent to prominent Democrats, opponents of Trump and CNN.
There seems no group free from blame for the nation’s problems. Targets have included predominantly black churches, liberal leaders, Jewish people, members of the LGBT community, Latinx and those of Middle Eastern descent.
Those who tout this rhetoric as political ideology must be stopped. At its core, it is born from hate and anger, and there is no logic or rationale behind it.
This hateful rhetoric has infiltrated our nation’s thoughts and has perpetuated violence across the country, and Auburn is not immune.
Where are we going to draw the line?
When is enough, enough?
In the Auburn Family, there are students and faculty members who represent each of the groups who have been targeted.
This hateful rhetoric needs to end, and there is only one way to put an end to it.
Racists cannot have a platform on large-scale media outlets.They incite feelings of terror, hatred and violence.
We cannot stand idly by as they continue to spout hate speech and wait for these words to transform into more violence.
Just because this nation guarantees one’s right to speech, it does not require anybody to listen to that speech.
It is not enough to condemn violence after it occurs; we must prevent the causes of that violence before it occurs.
As the midterms approach it is imperative for us as a community to take a stand, make a choice and elect those who are empathetic and whose policies are based in reason and compassion.
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