Trump's Racism Comes to Hopkins

I love living in Hopkins, Minnesota.  It's a Twin Cities suburb which at one point was its own town.  It was called West Minneapolis many years ago, but they changed the name to Hopkins in the 1920's to match the official post office location.  It has a fun main street, cute, affordable neighborhoods, incredible schools, a high quality of life, and it's one of the few middle class towns left in America

It also has racism.

Meet Bob Ivers.  He's running to be on Hopkins City Council, and at the League of Women Voter's Forum on Monday, October 2nd, he decided to drop the veil and let it all hang out:

 

WOW!  We can criticize him for his insane level of racism, which he tries to hide with a record number of right wing, dog whistle statements, but he can't help himself, eventually letting his racism fully out.  We could mention how unqualified he is to represent the people of Hopkins, including the minority population which he clearly dismisses.  We could mock his arguments, like the fact the buses already run to Hopkins, and have for years, but these 'gang bang shootings' he's promising have yet to show up.  We can mock his sheer level of ignorance, like does he really think black gang members from Detroit have moved to Minneapolis, excuse me, "Welfare-apolis," and are now just waiting until 2022 for their plan to come to fruition, when they can finally take a light rail line, instead of other forms of transportation, to a coffeehouse(!), in Hopkins...???!???

Instead, we need to call out his hate, letting him know this level of racial ignorance won't be tolerated in an educated and accepting society.

Bob seems to be the latest guy to feel emboldened in the age of Trump, whatever racist feelings he kept wrapped up under his raging persona, he's now allowing to come to light.  Historically, the mistake countries have made is allowing this sort of hate speech to become accepted.  People are afraid to call it out, so they label it 'a differing opinion,' and look away.  Next thing you know, that 'differing opinion' is a far larger movement, allowed to ferment and grow because of the silence.

This is not about stopping his Freedom of Speech.  Quite the contrary, he's had his Freedom of Speech, and now it's time for our Freedom of Speech.  Condemn this hate!  Condemn all the candidates like Bob Ivers who are coming out of the woodwork, feeling their time as closeted bigots are over, because the Age of Trump have freed them from their chains of tolerance.

If we don't, then we're all responsible for what happens next.