In the wake of Donald Trump’s win, dozens of accounts of harassment, hate speech, and sometimes violence targeted at minorities by people who oftentimes invoke the President-elect’s name have cropped up on social media.
While some incidents cannot be authenticated, an alarming amount are being investigated and were corroborated by witnesses.
Social Media Claims:
USPS worker:
Yarden Katz posted a tweet on Wednesday alleging that he heard a USPS worker yell at a man who appeared to be Hispanic, telling him to “go back” to his country. Katz confirmed the incident in an interview in an interview with Boston Magazine.
“Go back to your country,” Katz told the magazine he overhead the man say. “This is Trump land. You ain’t getting your check no more.”
My letter to @USPS about what I witnessed today in Cambridge, Massachusetts. #Trump pic.twitter.com/MyeAQvP28l
— Yarden Katz (@yardenkatz) November 9, 2016
Katz told the magazine that he memorized the numbers on the USPS van so that he could report it. He also took several pictures from his car.
Since then, the tweet has gone viral and USPS said it is investigating the incident, telling the magazine in a statement that these actions will not be tolerated. Investigations are set to resume on Monday, as post offices are closed Friday for Veterans Day.
“The actions described are unacceptable employee behavior,” USPS said in its statement. “The Postal Service neither condones nor tolerates this type of alleged behavior by any employee. The Postal Service is currently investigating the complaint and depending on the results of this investigation, appropriate corrective action will be taken consistent with the provisions of the applicable contractual agreement.”
“Any employee who is found to have taken actions that violate our policy and federal anti-discrimination laws will be subject to corrective action up to and including removal from the Postal Service,” the statement concluded.
Claims With Witnesses:
Maple Grove High School:
On the morning after the election, students walking into school at Maple Grove High School in Minneapolis were greeted with racist graffiti that invoked Trump’s name, City Pages first reported. The messages read “Fuck niggers” “fuck all porch monkeys,” “whites only,” “white America,” and “Trump.”
A photo of the incident was posted on Facebook by Fred Ndip, whose son attends the school. His post on Facebook was deleted, possibly because of Facebook’s guidelines, but the school confirmed the incident in a letter to parents.
“I am horrified by this action, which goes against everything for which our school stands; it is completely contrary to our core values, both as a school and as a district,” Bart Becker, the principal of the school wrote. “We immediately launched an investigation into this incident, and we will take swift and appropriate action based on the investigation findings. We will work very hard to identify who did this horrible act and determine how we can support the students and staff who have been affected by it.”
Royal Oak Middle School:
A small groups of students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting “build the wall” in a video uploaded to Facebook Wednesday. Josie Ramon, 12, confirmed to The Detroit News that she began filming as people were chanting. Ramon, who is Mexican-American, said that she filmed the video while crying so that she could have proof to show her mother.
Royal Oak Schools superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin confirmed the incident and said that the school district would be addressing it.
“We are committed to providing a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment for all students. We addressed this incident when it occurred. We are addressing it today,” Lewis-Lakin wrote. “We are working with our students to help them understand the impact of their words and actions on others in their school community. Our school district and each building in it works every day to be a welcoming community for all, inclusive and caring, where all students know they are valued, safe and supported.”
DeWitt Junior High:
Students at DeWitt Junior High School in Michigan reported three separate incidents of alleged harassment on Wednesday, The Lansing State Journal reported. In the first alleged incident students allegedly began to link arms to “build a wall,” but it was early in the morning and no one was impeded by it, DeWitt Public Schools Superintendent John Deiter told the paper. In the second alleged incident students again locked arms.
In the third alleged incident, Corina Gonzalez told the paper that students blocker her daughter from passing and chanted at her and some friends who were also of Latino descent.
“She attempted to get to her locker, and there were some boys blocking the locker,” she told the State Journal. “And they were chanting things such as ‘Donald Trump for president; let’s build the wall; let’s make America great again; you need to go back to Mexico.'”
School Principal Keith Cravotta confirmed the incidents in an email to parents on Wednesday, the paper reported.
“After the school day, it was brought to our attention that some students made a choice to act in a disrespectful manner on the way into the school building this morning,” it read. “Our initial understanding is that the situation was related to the presidential election.”
In another email obtained by the Journal, Deiter said that the incidents would be investigated and addressed.
Philadelphia Swastikas
Two swastikas were spray-painted on the window of a building in South Philadelphia Wednesday morning, with one tag invoking Trump’s name.
Under one of the swastikas, the tagger had written “Sieg Heil 2016.” Sieg Heil, or “hail victory” in German, was a common chant at Nazi rallies in the 1930s.
Another one of the swastikas served as the “T” in “TRUMP.”
Two swastikas painted on Philadelphia building today – one appears to replace the ‘T’ in the word “Trump” https://t.co/q1h9fk98w9
— Brian Nolan (@BrianNolan1974) November 9, 2016
Claims Where Authorities Got Involved:
A student at San Jose State University told police that when she was walking to her car in a parking garage Wednesday when a man allegedly grabbed her by her hijab so hard that she began choking, Mercury News reported.
Esra Altun told the paper that the alleged attacker did not say anything to her but when he finally let her go she fell to the floor. Though he did not mention Trump’s name, Altun said that she feels the alleged attack may have had something to do with his election, given the timing.
“It happened a day after Trump was announced as President-elect,” Altun told the paper. “If it was for another reason, it’s such a weird coincidence.”
Police told Mercury News that it cannot investigate the incident as a hate crime, and that there were no security cameras in the parking garage, but that they will look into having them added.
University spokeswoman Pat Harris told the paper that the case is still under investigation.
Texas State fliers:
Texas State University police confirmed to the American-Statesman they are investigating reports Wednesday of pro-Trump fliers allegedly by the “Texas State Vigilantes” calling for the “arrest and torture” of “deviant university leaders spouting off all this diversity garbage.”
“Now that our man Trump is elected and Republicans own both the Senate and the House — time to organize tar & feather vigilante squads and go arrest and torture those deviant university leaders spouting off all this diversity garbage,” the flier reads, according to a photo obtained by the site.
While university officials did not confirm the exact incident, University President Denise Trauth sent a letter to students preaching respect and unity.
“We know that those who are a part of our university community have different opinions and that, in this time of transition in our national leadership, members of our community are expressing their thoughts and concerns,” the letter read, according to the site. “Discourse is fundamental to the academic enterprise, and this university strives to protect it. As Bobcats our aim should be to better understand that which causes divisions among us and to work toward strengthening our bond as a university community.”
Wellesley College:
Two men who were identified as Babson College students, allegedly drove through Wellesley College in a pickup truck with a Trump flag attached to it Wednesday, The Boston Globe reported. The pair allegedly drove in circles around the campus, screaming and attempting to intimidate students at the all-women college.
They are also accused of driving by Wellesley’s Harambee House, a center on campus for African-American students, the Globe reported. Wellesley is Hillary Clinton’s alma mater and a Facebook post describing the incident described the campus as in “mourning.”
A Facebook post identified the pair and showed a snapchat of one man allegedly involved saying that they had been banned from Wellesley’s campus.
“We are officially banned from Wellesley College,” he says in the video. “If we’re caught there, we’ll get arrested and subject to trespassing. Make America great again!”
The fraternity the two were allegedly a part of, Sigma Phi Epsilon, released a statement, obtained by the Globe, saying they had been kicked out.
Wellesley campus police Chief Lisa Barbin said in an e-mail obtained by the Globe that her department is working with town police to investigate. State Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, told the Globe that it is aware of the alleged incident and is working to gather more information about it.
