Dear President-elect Trump: #StopTheHate

November 18, 2016

Dear Mr. President-elect:

On Nov. 8, you were elected president of the United States. As many have reiterated, regardless of which candidate any of us supported, you now have an obligation to represent ALL Americans. In your victory speech, you urged Americans to come together as one united people to take on the challenges before us.

Throughout American history, we have found opportunities to overcome our differences and work together for
the common good; it is one of the defining characteristics of our nation’s greatness.

In the months leading up to your election, your campaign rhetoric found an audience with those who would use our differences to divide us. Throughout the campaign, you and your supporters directed hateful language at people based on what we look like, where our families come from, who we love, how we worship, our abilities,
our gender, and other factors that make up our identity and expression in the world.

In the days since your election, we have seen people—seemingly emboldened by your victory—committing harassment, vandalism, property destruction and even assault based on those differences. Many of these acts have been carried out in your name. Though you may not condone this behavior, your silence gives tacit permission to those who perform these acts.

We are especially troubled by incidents taking place in schools and on college campuses—places where we do everything we can to ensure our children are safe and nurtured, and have the opportunity to grow and learn free of intimidation and hatred. But now we are hearing reports of children chanting “build the wall” at classmates, Muslim students and educators harassed for their clothing, male students intimidating their female classmates and swastikas painted on classroom doors.

Millions of your supporters would never participate in these actions, but your campaign rhetoric has created an environment that enables and encourages those who want to harm others. While you spoke against bullying, intimidation and hate crimes in your “60 Minutes” interview, the appointment of “alt-right” hero Steve Bannon as your chief strategist—which has been cheered by the Ku Klux Klan, the American Renaissance and other white supremacist groups—sends the exact opposite message.

The presidency is about many things. Chiefly, it is about setting an example through your leadership. You have said that you will be the president for all Americans, Mr. Trump. We ask that you keep your promise by loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the ideology that drives them. We ask you to use your position, your considerable platform and even your tweets to send a clear message that hate has no place in our public discourse, in our public policy or in our society.

Yours sincerely,

Randi Weingarten, President
American Federation of Teachers

Maureen B. Costello, Teaching Tolerance Director
Southern Poverty Law Center

Signed organizations

American Federation of Teachers

AFL-CIO

AFT Local 604

AFT New Jersey

AFT-Massachusetts

AFT Pennsylvania

AFT Vermont

African American Ministers In Action

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

American Association of University Professors

American Association of University Women

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

American Postal Workers

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Amnesty International

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence

Association of School Business Officials

Badass Teachers Association

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Black Women’s Roundtable

Bully Project

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools

Center for American Progress

Center for Community Change Action

Center for Popular Democracy

Champion Women

Change to Win

Character.org

Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues

ClimateTruth.org

Coalition of Labor Union Women

Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York City

Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta

Courage Campaign

DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Demos

Economic Policy Institute Policy Center

EdPath Specialized Learning Services, LLC

EMILY’s List

Equality Florida

Faith in Florida

Faith in Public Life

Feminist Majority Foundation

Freelancers Union

Fuse Washington

Futures Without Violence

Gamaliel Network

Girls Inc.

GLSEN

Good Jobs Nation

Human Rights Campaign

Illinois Federation of Teachers

Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement

Interfaith Alliance

Jewish Labor Committee

J Street

Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

LEA net

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann

Many Voices: A Black Church Movement for Gay and Transgender Justice

Rabbi Marc Margolius

Media Voices for Children

John Merrow

MomsRising

MoveOn

MPOWER Financing

Muslim Community Network

NAACP Washington Bureau

NARAL Pro-Choice America

National Action Network

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence

National Association for Bilingual Education

National Association of Letter Carriers

National Association of Secondary School Principals

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation

National Congress of Black Women, Inc.

National Council on Educating Black Children

National Council of Jewish Women

National Council of La Raza

National Council of La Raza Action Fund

National Domestic Violence Hotline

National Education Association

National Federation of Nurses

National Immigration Law Center

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

National LGBTQ Task Force

National Organization for Women

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence

National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

National Women’s Law Center

Network for Public Education

Network for Public Education Action

Newtown Action Alliance

NextGen Climate

Not in Our Town

Operation Respect

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO

Pride at Work

ProgressNow

Progress Florida

Progress Michigan

Progress North Carolina

Progress Virginia

Race Institute for K-12 Educators

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College/Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

School Social Work Association of America

Schott Foundation for Public Education

Service Employees International Union

Rev. Al Sharpton

States United to Prevent Gun Violence

Rabbi Susan Talve

TESOL International Association

Rabbi Rachel Timoner

T’ruah

Tyler Clementi Foundation

Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

UNITE HERE

United Auto Workers

United States Hispanic Leadership Institute

United Steelworkers

United University Professions

United We Dream

VoteVets

Voto Latino

Wisconsin Jobs Now

Working America

Workplace Fairness