Friday March 10, 156 civil and human rights groups urged Trump in writing to respond faster and more forcefully to hate-based incidents. In his recent address to a joint session of Congress, the president condemned "hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms," but some critics said he had taken to long to issue that statement.
According to me he in the previous years has contributed a lot to the friction between the different ethnic as well as different religious groups.
In addition, a new Muslim-Jewish coalition, against hate crimes, is pushing the government to provide more data on hate crimes and focus on punishing offenders. The group represents an effort get advocates to stand up for people of other faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
Suhail Khan, a member of the group and former Republican appointee, said the power of the Muslim-Jewish alliance is the ability for members to come to the defence of people of another faith, not their own.
Khan told Cup of Politics there is a very powerful impact on people who witness situations
"when people are standing up for each other.”
"When a stranger stands up for another individual who is being attacked for their ethnic or religious background, others will join in,"he said. But the effect works in reverse as well: People can be encouraged by their peers to join the harassment of someone from a different background.
Stanley Bergman, a co-chairman of the group, said
"our goal is to make sure that this matter — this hate crimes challenge — is on top of mind of the legislature."The first step, Bergman said, is to ensure uniformity of data collection and prosecution around the county.
"In some parts of the country there is better collection of data and of course there is better prosecution," he said, but "in other parts of the country there is not any kind of recognition that there is a challenge."
Listen to the whole conversation.
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Additional reading
- What to do in the Face of Global Anti-semitism
- The Rise of Anti-Seminism
- If you’re going to be a hater, make sure you’ve done your homework.
