Pressure Grows on Trump to Fully Reject the Hate Groups That Love Him

“Mr. Trump needs to take responsibility…and repair the damage that he has caused.”

Protesters outside a conference held by white nationalists in Washington, DC, following Trump's win.<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/susanmelkisethian/30297293304/in/photolist-h9byHp-PpMztK-Nagzoq-PpMzsH-NagzcU-PpMzpg-NRkamW-Nagz2o-h9sc1T-h9qYd1-h9bHfU-h9c7R2-h9cfu7-h9sPGP-h9qYMY-h9pWXY-h9pVXJ-h9ry7A-h9pXH5-h9cTbx-h9dskP-h9rvTr-h9cSjn-h9rwft-h9qYEU-h9cSWK-NagySW-NRkafU-PmAg13-NRka8j-Nagyi9-NRk9WY-Nagya3-NRk9Po-NagxYw-NRk9DU-NagxKW-NRk9xb-NRk9pA-PmAew1-8DEtam-8DEwQW-8DBoH4-8DBnVt-8DBmXP-8DBjx8-8DEqP1-8DBhyp-8DEozq-8DEkW5">Susan Melkisethian</a>/Flickr

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A coalition of human rights groups urged president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to make a clear break from the hateful and racist rhetoric that marked his presidential campaign by forcefully denouncing white nationalists and taking steps to mend the nation’s fraying race relations.

“Instead of pretending to be surprised by the pervasive hate that has infected our country, Mr. Trump needs to take responsibility for it and repair the damage that he has caused,” said Richard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist groups and hate crimes. “He needs to speak out forcefully and repeatedly against bigotry. He needs to apologize to the communities he has injured and demonstrate that they will be protected and valued in his administration.”

Last week, when pressed by New York Times reporters, Trump finally disavowed support specifically from white nationalists and other extremists comprising the so-called “alt-right” movement. But his comments came after more than a year of courting them on social media and beyond. And Trump has in no way conceded that his demagogic campaign energized and emboldened hate groups, nor has he distanced himself from the alt-right with anything approaching the vituperative force that he has directed at protesters and the media.

Hundreds of attacks documented since Trump’s election include a gay man reportedly being beaten by an assailant who told him “the president says we can kill all you faggots now.”

According to a report released Tuesday by the SPLC, the 10 days following Trump’s election resulted in “867 bias-related incidents.” They include multiple accounts of black children being asked to ride in the back of school buses, the words “Trump Nation” and “Whites Only” being painted on a church with a large immigrant population, and a gay man being pulled from his car and beaten by an assailant who told him “the president says we can kill all you faggots now.”

A second report, from the SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance Project, detailed the results of a post-election survey of 10,000 educators: 90 percent reported that their schools’ had been negatively affected since the election, and 80 percent described heightened concern among minority students about the impact of the election on their families.

Other groups that participated in the event at the National Press Club on Tuesday included the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Council of La Raza, Muslim Advocates, and the American Federation of Teachers. The SPLC’s Cohen called on Trump to reach out specifically to communities that he targeted rhetorically during his campaign, including Muslim Americans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans. He also called for the resignation of Trump’s incoming chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who formerly helmed Breitbart News and remains a highly controversial and polarizing figure. “If he doesn’t do those things,” Cohen said, “the hate Mr. Trump has unleashed during this election season will continue to flourish.”

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Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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