You can look at the alarming increase of hate crimes since Trump was elected; most of which haven’t been reported because people either don’t recognize them as hate crimes or because companies have stopped reporting hate crimes to the FBI. Although correlation does not mean causation, it is hard to ignore the fact that a lot of them are doing it in his name when it previously wasn’t. The graffiti of swastikas are paired with his slogan and racist graffiti in bathrooms paired with his name make it hard to deny the influence he has had on people.

Now that Trump is preparing to become President, he has finally renounced the disgusting actions of the supporters of his that are threatening, attacking and altogether harassing minorities by saying: “I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that… I will say this right to the cameras- stop it!” This, however, does not excuse him from his previous remarks he has made during his campaign. As a person of power and wealth, many people look up to him and believe that what he says is truthful, especially if what he says reaffirms what they believe. A famous quote of his from a speech on June 16, 2015, was very demeaning to the Mexican immigrants that are presently in America, whether they are legal or not. “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” He never says that he is only referring to illegal immigrants and he talks as if the Mexican government is purposefully sending people to America illegally. He furthers this by implying that people of Latino heritage are inherently biased against other Americans when he said that Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, should not cover his case on Trump University because as he told CNN: ““He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings — rulings that people can’t even believe.” This not only paints people of Mexican heritage in a very troubling light, but it also reaffirms or articulates pre-existing prejudices of those who already had opinions of Latino immigrants and of people with Latino heritage. These are just some of the exaggerated statements or outright lies he makes about entire groups of people, especially minorities, to get an emotional, mostly fearful, response from his supporters to support his policies, like his proposed wall on the Mexican border. Even when he talks about him loving a minority group or that a minority group loving him, he treats all the people within that category as if they were without the diversity that people who are white also experience.

Even if you want to argue that those remarks alone don’t necessarily encourage racism, and just exemplify his ignorance, he has directly encouraged his supporters at his rallies to harass protesters and promised to protect them if they do. During a rally in St. Louis on March 9, 2016, a black man who was being escorted out of the arena for protesting was punched in the face by a Trump supporter and then tackled by security for reacting. Two days later on March 11, when asked about the incident he responded with: “And I thought it was very, very appropriate. He was swinging. He was hitting people. And the audience hit back. And that's what we need a little bit more of.” This shows that he not only twisted the truth or did not know what actually happened; the result was that he condones violent actions against a peaceful black protester, and encourages more. The fact that this protester was black is also not just a coincidence. His reaction to a Black Lives Matter protester who was beaten at his rally on November 21, 2015, was to say: “Maybe he [the protestor] should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” This again encourages this kind of behavior against protesters, especially those who are black. The way he reacts to protesters is very different from other candidates who have dealt with protesters, like Bernie Sanders, who allowed them to talk at his rally. Both kinds of reaction condone different kinds of behavior and attitudes; while Trump showed an attitude of intolerance and encouraged violence, Bernie showed compassion and encouraged the right to speak. He even said that he wouldn’t let what had happened at Bernie’s rally happen to him by fighting them: “I don't know if I'll do the fighting myself, or if other people will.” This shows how strongly he feels against the Black Lives Matter Movement, which is a very important matter to the African-American community and to really anyone who is of a darker skin color. He goes as far as to say said he would defend these people in court; in a rally in Iowa on February 22, 2016, where protesters were interrupting his speech, he said: “"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell. I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise." A homeless Latino man getting beaten by two teenagers who were arrested and then told the police “Donald Trump was right — all these illegals need to be deported.” When asked to respond to this event, Trump responded with: “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.” This not only shows people committing hate crimes in his name but that he allows it. As the future leader of America, he needs to be setting an example, not lighting fires of hatred.

Now that Trump has been elected, he now also shows that he is at least willing to overlook white supremacy, if not outright support it by appointing known white supremacists to his cabinet like Stephen Bannon who is the head of a known alternative-right, white supremacist, news site. If Trump is willing to surround himself with alt-right extremists who are racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-Semitist, anti-immigration and anti-establishment then those are ideologies is he willing to seriously consider, which has serious implications for every minority group in America. There is also his Vice President, Pence, who is vehemently against LGBTQ people.The President of America is someone who majorly contributes to shaping this country and is supposed to be someone people look up to.

There are many people who argue that it isn’t Trump himself who is encouraging racism, but that there are hate groups who are piggybacking off of what he’s saying. That is partially true, but his is normalizing the kind of ignorant and hateful language those hate groups and hateful people use. Hate groups did not approve of what Hilary Clinton was doing or what Barack Obama was doing and therefore hateful people didn’t contribute their actions to the president. Many people don't see the problems going on because their privilege or ignorance may keep them from being able to sympathize with people who are vicitmized for their membership to a minority group. I fear for the future as a woman and a friend and ally to many nonbianary babes and people of many different races.