When Trump tweeted on Sunday that four congresswoman of color – all US citizens, three of whom were born in America – should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” memories came flooding back for many Americans.
Memories of moments on the streets, in bus stops or in parking lots when they too were told to “go back to your country”.
“I’ve heard ‘Go back to your country’ many many times. Most recently was about a month and a half ago in LA. It hurts my feelings every time,” wroteactor Kumail Nanjiani on Twitter.
“3 years ago, I was walking w/ my kids in Time Square & a man shouted ‘go back to your country you stupid terrorist b*^%h,’” wrote activist Linda Sarsour in a tweet. “My youngest was 12 at the time & was shaken. She said ‘but this is your country’ & I said ‘it absolutely is & it’s yours too.’”
In the midst of the 2016 election, a woman on the street told Michael Luo, editor of newyorker.com, and his family to “go back to China” when she was angry that they were partially blocking the sidewalk.
“I was momentarily shocked, but then I abandoned my toddler in her stroller to confront the woman. As I was walking away, she screamed, ‘Go back to your fucking country,’” Luo wrote in a column.
“To this day, I still think about what I hollered back: ‘I was born in this country!’ As if that’s all I needed to prove.”
George Conway, husband of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and a prominent Republican critic of Trump, wrote in a column for the Washington Post about his experience hearing the insult when he was with his mother at a supermarket parking lot in Massachusetts.
“I don’t remember exactly what precipitated the woman’s ire. But I will never forget what she said to my mother, who had come to this country from the Philippines decades before. In these words or something close, the woman said, “Go back to your country.”
In no way is “go back to your country” a phrase that’s new to the American consciousness. It’s been thrown out all throughout American history as the catchphrase of anti-immigrant sentiment.
What is notable, at least at a time when America is becoming more racially diverse, is that the insult came from the president of the United States.
While hate speech experts do not draw a direct connection between Trump and specific acts of violence, research suggests that Trump’s words have previously had an impact.
A study showed that the 2016 election has made those who held racist beliefs more comfortable with their views. After years of falling, hate crimes have been rising in the last three years. Counties that hosted Trump rallies specifically saw an increase in hate crimes. Bullying increased in Virginia schools that are in areas that voted for Trump after the election.
Though Twitter recently announced that tweets, when deemed a violation of the company’s hateful conduct policy but are also in the “public interest”, will come with a disclaimer on the platform, Trump’s tweet on Sunday has not been flagged.
