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Trump’s Rhetoric of Hate
The four congresswomen he targeted represent the best of America
We are witnessing a president who uses racially charged — i.e.racist — tweets and rhetoric to control opinion. To control crowds. To incite hate. This week we saw him speak about the four freshman Congresswomen (known affectionately as “the squad”) using a racist trope: “go back to where you come from.” This rhetoric is widely agreed to be racist and has a dark history of being used to spread racism. This is beyond the fact that these four women are Americans, three of them born in this country. The US Representatives are: Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Rep Omar was born in Mogudishu and is now a naturalized citizen. I drew the above sketch on my phone during their recent press conference when they responded to the president.
It is the color of their skin that is what our president takes issue with, and by insinuating they are not “from here,” he is casting them as “other.” I am told and have read that people of color constantly have to deal with others telling them to “go back to their country,” implying that they do not belong here because of the color of their skin. They are outsiders and are being made to feel like they don’t “fit in.”
