Combating Hate Crimes Must Be Top Priority For Trump And New Attorney General

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CONTRIBUTOR

Combating Hate Crimes Must Be Top Priority For Trump And New Attorney General
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5873100be4b0a5e600a78c76?timestamp=1483971721250

Media interviews and tweets are not enough to solve this problem.



01/09/2017 09:22 am ET | Updated 7 hours ago

Sen. Tammy Baldwin United States Senator for Wisconsin
Mike Segar / Reuters

This week, my colleague, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination hearing as President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be Attorney General at a time when we have witnessed an alarming increase in bias-motivated violence in our country.

Last week in Chicago, a white teenager with mental health challenges was the victim of a brutal assault and local authorities have filed hate crime charges. Sadly, he is not alone. There are many additional disturbing and disgusting examples of racism, discrimination and hate that warrant the attention of the incoming Trump administration.

In the aftermath of the election, there have been hundreds of documented instances of discrimination, harassment and even violence against members of minority communities, as well as increased hostility in our nation’s schools. The Southern Poverty Law Center has collected reports of nearly 900 episodes of harassment and intimidation since Election Day, including more than a dozen in my home state of Wisconsin. For example, a Fitchburg family with eleven adopted children, including from Ghana and China, received an anonymous letter proclaiming “TRUMP WON,” calling them “race traitors” and telling them to “go home.”

The fact is, many members of racial, ethnic, disability and religious minority communities, as well as LGBT people, live in very real fear for their safety. They are scared, and it is incumbent upon President-elect Trump, as our nation’s leader, to demonstrate to them and all Americans that discrimination and violence against any individual because of who they are, how they worship, or who they love will not be tolerated in our country..............................

[uponit7771]

1. MiniPoot agrees, combating hate crimes against him and his band of bigots is priority everyone else

... can GFT

[msongs]

2. it is a priority - criticism of trump and sessions will soon be a hate crime! voila, there it is! n

[louis-t]

3. Yeah, that'll happen...

[Danascot]

4. I read "combating" as

"committing"

[samir.g]

5. his first priority will be perpetrating, not combatting

[Bettie]

7. I agree on principle

but I laugh at the idea that anyone appointed by Twittler would ever work to reduce hate crimes.

Now, Sessions, he'll probably have a bunch of guys devoted to increasing them.