Mr. Trump – Words Matter…

Dear Editor,

Recently, the Reader reported that racist flyers were thrown into the yards of South Sandpoint residents and that those flyers promoted a white supremacist website.

Such groups are tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) which, in its spring reports, has documented that as a result of the presidential election, there has been an increase of hate groups and encouragement to racists like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, as well as encouragement to white supremacist, skinhead and neo-nazi groups. They report that immediately after the election, hate-fueled violence and intimidation broke out across the country. These groups feel they now have one of their own in the White House.

What should also concern parents and grandparents, are the results from recent SPLC surveys of educators, who said that during and after the presidential campaign, there was an increase of bullying, racial slurs and extremist symbols in their classrooms, causing heightened anxiety and fear to those targeted.  In a smaller number of cases, intimidation also targeted students whose parents were Trump supporters, but represented a minority in some school districts.

It is my opinion that the encouragement given to these groups and the hateful atmosphere we are witnessing falls directly into the lap of Mr. Trump, whose vile campaign rhetoric of fear, hatred and promotion of violence has seemingly made this country “safe” for fascism.

If we want to keep our democracy, we need all of our civic groups, all faith groups and their leaders, as well as our elected officials, as our city has done, to speak out against the rise of blatant, fascistic, anti-democracy in our country.

Philip A. Deutchman
Sandpoint

While we have you ...

... if you appreciate that access to the news, opinion, humor, entertainment and cultural reporting in the Sandpoint Reader is freely available in our print newspaper as well as here on our website, we have a favor to ask. The Reader is locally owned and free of the large corporate, big-money influence that affects so much of the media today. We're supported entirely by our valued advertisers and readers. We're committed to continued free access to our paper and our website here with NO PAYWALL - period. But of course, it does cost money to produce the Reader. If you're a reader who appreciates the value of an independent, local news source, we hope you'll consider a voluntary contribution. You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.

You can contribute at either Paypal or Patreon.

Contribute at Patreon Contribute at Paypal

You may also like...

Close [x]

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.