My Two Cents: _____ Fuels Hate and Violence

Rex Huppke is not a political columnist, and he’d be the first to tell you that. He does, however, write for the rather conservative-leaning Chicago Tribune to, as he puts it, provide “wry spin on today’s social trends, pop-culture misfires and political blowhards.” He writes often about _____, and will continue to do so, but wishes it wasn’t so:

“I write about this president often, and I’d like to write about him less, but I won’t, because he never stops behaving in a way that degrades our humanity. He never finds a bottom. And that’s not OK.”

And _____ sank to a new low last week in yet another speech where he described, in gruesome detail, a brutal attack on 16-year-old girl by immigrants whom he called “animals.” And, as in most _____ fear-mongering stories, there doesn’t seem to be any verification of the story; there is no innocent girl story in the press, and no band of marauding immigrant animals, either.

But _____ doesn’t care about facts; he cares about riling up his base; the anti-immigrant folks, the haters and the gun nuts. His choice of that fairy tale was to inspire hatred for anyone who is an immigrant in this country because, as we know after months of listening to ... and let this sink in ... the President of the United States spew hatred ... he needs to keep ‘us’—some of us—fearful, and maybe then they’ll ignore the ineptitude and corruption in his administration.

He wants to keep ‘us’ worried about ‘them’ so we don’t watch him. And the thing that I find most frightening is that, if you heard that story from a friend, your first question might be, “Where’d you hear that?” And your friend wouldn’t be able to answer because they made it up and so you’d probably walk away, shaking your head at the lunacy of your former pal. But not _____; as Huppke points out, his behavior is both “sadistic” and “intentionally dehumanizing.”

Again, worry about ‘them,’ and not about the fact that _____ can’t get anything done in DC—which is actually, in my mind, a good thing—that his White House is a clusterfuck of morons, and that, even with a GOP-controlled Congress, no one wants to help him out.

So he’ll spew hate to keep you on edge, to keep you on ‘his’ side against ‘them’ and all of his hate speech is meant to encourage the most base of ‘us’ to follow in his footsteps and deride, attack, or even threaten to murder, anyone who looks different.

Case in point ... Amber Hensley was caught on video threatening three Somali-American women with death.

Death; because they don’t look like the ‘us’ that fools like Amber Hensley have in her head.

The Somali-American women—Rowda Soyan, Sarah Hassan and Laleyla Hassan—were headed to a movie when Hensley approached them and started screaming; the women told Hensley they were recording her, and would give the video to the authorities. Hensley told them to “move their car” and then said this:

“Go home, go home. We’re going to kill all of you. We’re going to kill everyone one of you.”

After the video went viral, Hensley apologized, saying it was “not a Christian-like thing to do”:

“I would first like to apologize for the horrible things that I said ... It was not a Christian-like thing to do AT ALL and wish I could take it back, but I lost my cool and I can’t. I am terribly sorry. I just wish the whole video could be shown. And the things that were stated before she starts taping.”

Hensley then tries to excuse her actions by saying that the women had parked too close to her. Again she said:

“We’re going to kill everyone one of you.”

Hensley says because the women had parked too close to her car, she couldn’t get in; she says she asked them to move and they called her ‘fat’. She told them she was a Christian—right before she threatened to murder them all—and the women responded, “F**K Jesus.”

After making excuse after excuse for threatening to kill someone because ‘they’ don’t look like ‘us,’ Hensley admits there was no excuse for her behavior, and she “will take any form of punishment deemed fit.”

Hensley was fired from her job as a secretary at a Fargo accounting firm, Horab & Wentz:

“Horab & Wentz does not agree with or support the statements expressed by Amber Hensley in the recently posted video. She does not represent or reflect the views of Horab & Wentz. Ms. Hensley is no longer employed with Horab & Wentz effective immediately.”

For their part, Rowda Soyan, Sarah Hassan and Laleyla Hassan say they filmed the incident to show what happens to them every day, and when they tell Hensley they will show the video to the police, Hensley says:

“You think the police care?”

But maybe the police did care, because after the incident hit social media, Amber Hensley met with Leyla and Sarah Hassan at the Fargo Police Department to talk; Chief David Todd shared the story:

“The incident that happened at the Walmart parking lot ... shows we have some things to work on as a community and as individuals. The vast majority of us, if we look to the past of our grandparents, great grandparents or those before them—we identify with their heritage and have some pride in it.

...

We are all a little different and that is okay, in fact it’s good—if we strive to understand each other, accept each other and respect each other. If we do that, our diversity can make us stronger as a community.

Unfortunately, incidents like what happened this week ... can cause further division and set us back from progress we are trying to make as a community.

However, I want to put before you an example of what can be accomplished even though mistakes were made and unfortunate words were said. Amber Hensley, Sarah Hassan and Leyla Hassan have all expressed regret regarding their interaction and language with each other.

With an openness to reconciliation, these women have come together and talked through this incident and expressed their sincere regrets, apologies and most importantly, forgiveness to each other. This process has also allowed them to gain understanding and respect for each other.

Not everything is perfect in this resolution. We have some ugliness in our community that needs to be addressed and worked on [but] ... perhaps we can all take a lesson from what was an ugly unfortunate interaction and how even despite words being said that cannot be taken back, forgiveness and understanding can still be achieved.”

I like that the women took the time to meet after and talk, and apologize, and work on how they interacted with one another; but, I will say this: if you don’t have a hate in you, if you are not racist, you would never say the things Amber Hensley said. She needs to work on that; she needs to understand that we are all different, but that doesn’t make any of us ‘less than.’

Still, good on Chief Todd for wanting to do the right thing, helping his community, all of his community, to better understand one another.

I wonder how he might have felt had he attended another speech by _____—see, a full circle post—where _____ appeared to endorse police brutality, and then suggested that he, and he alone, will save the Second Amendment, because it would be replaced if he were not President.

Let’s ignore the fact that our President is too ignorant of government to realize that he, or any other president, cannot simply erase any amendment o the Constitution, and focus on how he spreads hate and advocates violence:

"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you see them thrown in, rough, I said, 'Please don't be too nice,' like, when you guys put somebody in a car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody? Don't hit their head? I said, 'You can take the hand away, OK?'"

Yes; hate, and violence. The president was encouraging police officers to ignore department policies and local, state, and federal law. And then this:

"Your Second Amendment is safe. Wasn't looking so good for the Second Amendment was it, huh? If _____ doesn't win, your 2nd Amendment is gone."

Actually, I believe most police officers, and departments—and officers and departments from around the country have blasted ____ for his hate speech—would be happier to have _____ gone, on or before the next election.

Look, let me make this queer: I’ve been around a while; I’ve seen presidents come and go. Some I liked; some, not so much.

George w. Bush comes to mind, but even Bush never advocated violence from our police officers; he may have been, and how do I put this delicately, “intellectually challenged” but he didn’t use hate speech to pit ‘us’ against ‘them’ and then stand by and let it happen.

That’s on _____; and his base.

Chicago Tribune Declares War On “Sadistic” _____

Amber Hensley Hate Speech

_____ Encourages Police