We call on President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress to halt the hate. We demand that they denounce white nationalism, stop using hate speech, and publicly call on their fellow Republicans in the media and politics to end their racist, anti-immigrant anti-Semitic messages.

It takes a village to create a hate crime. Last October, Robert Bowers killed 11 Jewish people who were worshiping at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He heard the anti-Semitic messages from right-wing media and candidates loud and clear.

Because Robert Bowers felt so much urgency and fear about a made-up hostile invasion, orchestrated by Jews, he went to a local synagogue and killed as many as he possibly could.

In January, Gregory Bush killed two African-American people, the first was Maurice Stallard, who was killed inside a supermarket in front of his 12-year old grandson. The second, Vickie Jones, was killed in the parking lot as Bush fled. This was after Bush tried to break into Louisville's First Baptist Church, armed to the teeth, with the intention of killing as many of the 70 African-American worshippers inside as he could. And Cesar Sayoc mailed 14 pipe bombs to Trump's critics and opponents, the first of which was discovered in the mailbox of Holocaust-survivor George Soros.

And that's just within our borders. In New Zealand, a white nationalist brutally killed 50 Muslims who were praying at two mosques. In a lengthy screed he published online before the attack, he praises Donald Trump "as a symbol of white identity and common purpose."

The sad truth is Trump is just one of the far-right politicians and pundits whose words have emboldened white nationalists. Iowa Congressman Steve King, and Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz all echo Trump's language of hatred and fear.

Atrocities are unconscionably brutal and disgusting as discrete, horrific events. They leave us with a sense of utter devastation for those who were lost, concern for those who loved them, and a sense of futility at the loss of innocent lives.

But we should reserve anger and action for those who pushed the racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Bowers, Bush, Sayoc and the New Zealand shooter took both seriously and literally. President Trump and Republican Party leaders, in deploying strategic racism, demonstrate sheer contempt for democracy.

People's Action members have been at the forefront of calling out Trump and other elected officials when their words and actions incite hatred. In October of 2017, Dan Doubet from Keystone Progress in Pennsylvania wrote that the rise of Pennsylvania’s racist right is a warning to the nation. Members of Iowa CCI confront Steve King about his racist statements and views. And members all across the country have rejected Trump's ongoing talk of "invasion" to stoke fear of immigrants.

Please join us in demanding that our lawmakers halt the hate. Enough is enough.