Hate letters have seen to have emerged after the electoral victory of Donald Trump which made him the 45th President of The United States of America. The Muslim community is being targeted as several mosques have allegedly claimed that they are receiving threatening letters and emails.
“There’s a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump. He’s going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he’s going to start with you Muslims,” the letter states, according to Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. “And, he’s going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews (sic).” The letter has been received by three mosques in California and one in Georgia. The Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose was the first to receive the letter.The anonymous hand written letter further states “pack your bags and get out of dodge as Trump is going to cleanse America and make it shine again”.
“This hate campaign targeting California houses of worship must be investigated as an act of religious intimidation, and our state’s leaders should speak out against the growing anti-Muslim bigotry that leads to such incidents,” said Hussam Ayloush, leader of the council’s Los Angeles branch.
After the letter emerged , appeal has been carried out to council members to step-up security for the protection of mosques and the community members.
According to Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR), The southern Poverty Law centre (SPLC), which monitors hate crimes, around 700 incidents targeting different minority groups have been documented since election day. More than 100-anti-Muslim incidents have occurred ever since Donald Trump was elected as President of the country. This is alarming as Trump had railed against the community and other ethnic groups including immigrants during his election campaign.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, said that the anti-Muslim rhetoric that came out of the Presidential campaign was to blame.
On the campaign trail in December, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. The ban is one of his most controversial and popular proposals, alongside building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and deporting illegal immigrants. Trump’s campaign later repackaged the proposal, saying immigration should be suspended from countries “compromised by terrorism.”
Hate Letters : The Statistics
The FBI said this month that hate crimes against U.S. Muslims spiked last year to its highest level since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Law enforcement agencies across the country reported 257 anti-Muslim incidents last year, an increase of nearly 67 percent from 2014, according to recent FBI data.
Overall, hate crimes increased by 6.7 percent from 2014 to 2015. Anti-black and anti-Jewish incidents rose by about 7.6 and 9 percent, respectively, according to the FBI.
Hate Letters: The Letter Itself
What kind of response do we get from The President Donald Trump on this issue? , as till now he has remained quiet on the subject. The minority communities are concerned and indeed worried what America would become under the new Leadership which advocated against them during election campaigns.
(Inputs from The Washington Post)
