Anecdotal news accounts since Nov. 8 suggests that the outcome of the presidential election has emboldened intolerant people to express their disdain for others often citizens who don’t look like the country’s Northern European forebears, or who don’t share their Christian faith.
Steve Bannon, an enabler of the so-called alt-right, which in large part is a white nationalist or supremacist movement in other guise, sits at the next president’s right hand as a chief adviser.
That’s not to say that everyone who rejoiced in Trump’s election is a bigot, but many of the comments that emanated from the Trump camp certainly felt sexist, racist and Islamophobic, articulating the anxiety of Americans who feel threatened by an increasingly diverse America and interconnected world.
We see the effect in many ways, sometimes just in the tone of conversations at a local coffee shop where the conversational norms of liberal Massachusetts have kept many from expressing fully their views.
Aside from all the potential policy changes a Trump White House and allied Republicans in Congress might effect, this change in tone is one of the insidious tragedies of this election.
Immediately after Nov. 8, there were enough reports of hate crimes that the state attorney general and local district attorney — and even the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, not known for liberal leanings — felt the need to push back.
Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan has condemned recent hate-filled graffiti on Mount Tom and criminal acts against minorities, nationwide, that have been reported in recent weeks.
Sullivan encouraged area residents who believe they have been the target of bias-motivated threats, harassment and intimidation to immediately report it to their local police department and to call a new hotline established by Attorney General Maura Healey.
Pope Francis, the Argentine son of Italian immigrants, recently greeted immigrants in America with particular affection, urging them not to become discouraged.
“I ask you not to forget that, like those who came here before you, you bring many gifts to your new nation. You should never be ashamed of your traditions,” he said. “By contributing your gifts, you will not only find your place here, you will help to renew society from within.”
More recently, Deerfield Academy students heard a “counter-narrative” against extremist behavior from another immigrant, Mohamed Amin Ahmed, creator of Average Mohamed, a nonprofit organization that speaks out against religious extremism and violence.
Ahmed, a Somali migrant who now lives in Minnesota, preaches tolerance as the antidote to violent religious extremism via a website that reaches 130 countries. “When you start talking about good in your society, other people start talking to you — because society rallies to good, especially in this great country called America.”
We hope he’s right and that everyone starts talking about good and rallies to it.
In his Thursday talk, Ahmed called on the students to respond to messages of violence with peace. While it’s a message familiar to Christians, it also has its roots in other faith traditions around the world.
“The easiest thing you can do is promote tolerance,” he said. “When you hear anti-Semitism, say something. When you hear something racist, say something. When you hear Islamophobia, say something.”
We want to reinforce Amhed’s message of tolerance. We don’t have be liberal Democrats or Bernie socialists to support tolerance in a free society. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, the only thing you should not tolerate — whether in your daily lives or in society — is intolerance itself.