Civil Rights Center in Tennessee and Black Churches in Louisiana Burn as Hate Crimes Increase

Churches burned, death threats against civil rights leaders, synagogues attacked - and 3rd straight year of hate crimes spiking, according to FBI. This is happening, not hypothetical. pic.twitter.com/Q3aFJ3yj9t

— Tom Perriello (@tomperriello) April 7, 2019

Tweets and articles with a common theme that have caught my eye in the past few days, which I want to share:

A white power symbol was found sprayed on the remains of Knoxville's Highlander Center — formerly the Highlander Folk School, that once hosted civil rights activists including Rosa Parks & Martin Luther King Jr. — after a suspicious fire.https://t.co/K2ChfQYurw

— Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) April 2, 2019

Sarah Jones, "At Famed Civil-Rights Center, Fire Destroys a Building, But Not a Mission":

Nationally, hate crimes are on the rise. In 2018, the FBI reported that rates of reported hate crimes increased 17 percent from 2017. (The real figure is almost certainly higher, as many victims don't report hate crimes.)

.@BetoORourke: “Calling human beings an infestation is something that we might’ve expected to hear in Nazi Germany.”

Watch the full video below.https://t.co/aywzxfjEYh

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 5, 2019

Nick Robins-Early, "How Far-Right Extremists Abroad Have Adopted Trump’s Symbols As Their Own":

"The hat and the MAGA acronym have really become shorthand for this white nationalist movement," said Barbara Perry, a professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and an expert on the far right.

Fires struck 3 black churches in 10 days in southern Louisiana. Authorities think it’s "suspicious." https://t.co/ZXrAh43K9L

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 6, 2019

Irish lawyer who spat at flight attendant during racist tirade jailed https://t.co/Flbuyx92EV

— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) April 5, 2019

Newlywed easyJet passenger who went on homophobic rant is jailed https://t.co/8jHW2JLyOX

— NEWS 4 TRAVELLERS (@news4travellers) April 4, 2019

Stephen Miller is orchestrating a behind-the-scene purge to fill Trump administration with anti-immigrant hardliners: report https://t.co/wZJ2JxWeC5

— Raw Story (@RawStory) April 8, 2019

From Sonia Nazario: Trump calls immigrants criminals — drug dealers and rapists intent on plundering America. But the truth, as I saw so clearly over a monthlong reporting trip in Honduras, is that migrants are fleeing a society controlled by criminals. https://t.co/mLW11Gabsn

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) April 7, 2019

Trump & his political enablers’ rhetoric & policies against immigrants, children & families is not just bad politics. It’s evil. News today says it may take 2 years to reconnect separated families.

— Rev. Dr. Barber (@RevDrBarber) April 6, 2019