Hate Archives - RISE NEWS

Tila Tequila Is A Desperate Little Nazi

By Howard Rudnick

Another day, another desperate celebrity trying to bring attention to themselves and revive their 15 minutes of fame.

Tila Tequila, who became famous back when MySpace was still a thing and we had a Bush in office, has upped the crazy meter on her antics to DEFCON One.

In case you have either stopped listening to the news altogether since the November 8^th Presidential Election, or you choose to ignore the growing white nationalist pride and racist rhetoric being spewed in this country, Ms. Tequila has decided that she wants to throw her hat in the race for craziest racist and modern day Nazi sympathizer.

Here is my problem with Tila Tequila.

She is a Vietnamese American sexually fluid woman who is named after a Mexican liquor who would have been exactly what Hitler would have tried to rid during his time in power.

She is everything white Nationalists want to get rid of. As much as she provides an outlet to spread the racist and vitriolic message that is promoted by the Nation Policy Institute, it also makes for strange bedfellows.

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In an article in 2013 from Tablet Mag, they chronicle her journey from Jewish convert to her path to posing as “sexy Hitler” and openly and honestly explaining why she sympathizes with the man who proudly brought upon the deaths of over 12 million people who were deemed a problem and were not part of his perfect race.

Tila Tequila is not a credible person.

Having been a fan of Tila Tequila’s scandalous bi-sexual dating show “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” I can’t quite fathom how she went from being someone who was representing the LGBT community to turning around and supporting an ideology that wants to see the end of those who brought her credibility.

Her brand is extremely tarnished and now she will continue to spew whatever comes out of her very fragile, damaged brain in an attempt to bring further relevance to herself, without thinking about the long term repercussions.

Unfortunately in 2016, it is no longer about your message having meaning, it is only about the message you are putting out.

While Tila Tequila has had a rough go of her life since she hit peak fame during the course of her show, she does not have much to show for herself since. Her failed relationship and then death of her girlfriend Casey Johnson, her very public and nasty abuse lawsuit against former NFL football player Shawn Merriman, her attempted suicide and subsequent rehab stint, her numerous outlandish and offensive remarks about the Jewish people all paint the picture of a woman who is not mentally stable.

As a Jewish-American, I am of course baffled by the idea that white nationalist pride and the growing Nazi sentiment are becoming prevalent in 2016, but I am also baffled at people who are part of the “minority” lying in bed with the people who view them as lesser human beings.

Even though I am still a white male in today’s society, I also understand the struggles of those who are not as privileged as I am because of the horrific history of my ancestors, those who had to suffer so future Jewish individuals could live a better life than they did.

The growing anti-Semitism and white Nationalist pride and assault on free speech by those on the extreme right are damaging the reputation of this country, and the true reason for the founding of the original colonies here in North America.

Our settlers were looking to escape persecution and no longer live in fear because of their beliefs.

Now we have celebrities like Tila Tequila (and using the phrase celebrity is being extremely generous) being used by the very individuals who they support, especially if what is being supported is not well received or downright inhumane.

America was, has been and will always be great, so if anything, we need to make America respectful again.

We need to make America tolerant again. We need to stop breeding hate and we need to be willing to turn away notions of racism, of sexism, of misogyny, of anti-Semitism, of xenophobia, fear of anything that is not homogenous with the dominant white patriarchy that has run this country for 240 years.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

A Former Congressman Just Vowed To Start A Race War In The US

By Rich Robinson

Joe Walsh, a former Republican Congressman from Illinois took to Twitter after the Dallas Shootings to threaten President Obama and vow to start a race war.

Walsh Tweeted:

“This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you.”

Four police officers were killed when two snipers opened fire at the close of a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Dallas. Another seven officers were injured in the attack.

Walsh deleted the Tweet but it was saved by many people.

Let’s just say that people were pretty mad:

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We wonder if Walsh will actually receive a call from law enforcement due to his hate filled tweet.

I Can’t Stand Donald Trump. But The Violence Against His Supporters Is Wrong

By Chris Beacham

The culture of protest in America is out of control.

As someone that does not support Donald Trump, it angers me to see the violence at these Trump rallies.

It peaked yesterday in San Jose, California.

It makes the opposition to Trump look undignified, and also gives the Trump movement more momentum and ammunition on which to further divide the country.

When you see protesters burning the U.S. flag and waving the Mexican flag with pride (and yet residing in the U.S. and potentially benefitting from this country), hitting people (sometimes causing them to bleed), and throwing eggs and rocks at supporters and police, you just feel portions of the electorate turning to Trump’s views.

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The media loves drama, and they love fighting. When the protestors are out, so are the cameras, and the protestors are putting themselves on the world’s stage for everyone to judge.

Many will choose to judge a whole legitimate anti-racist movement on the behavior of a few bad eggs, but the protestors don’t take the time to consider that.

WATCH: Trump supporter egged

Although Trump supporters can be very violent and abrasive as well, I honestly don’t think it can be compared.

Trump supporters don’t cause riots at Hillary and Bernie rallies.

What happened in Chicago a few months ago is more ambiguous, but the group opposing Trump in the middle of the rally arguably was the catalyst for what happened.

The only people interrupting and protesting Clinton and Sanders rallies seem to be folks from the left. Ironic.

As someone who leans to the left politically, I’m sick and tired of this hyper-liberal knee-jerk tendency to protest.

There are times when protesting is welcome, and necessary. Protesting with integrity and resolve is powerful, and can have impact.

However, that does not mean you find or create things to protest about, nor does it mean you protest every little issue. We’ve seen that on college campuses with disastrous results.

But in the case of the 2016 election, we should be protesting with our vote.

Trump is the GOP nominee, and throwing rocks won’t change it.

If you want to stop Trump, form a pro-active and peaceful coalition, try to increase voter turnout, and get people to the polls. This is democracy at its purest.

The more Trump supporters are harassed, the more Mexican flags waved as American flags burn, and the more violence caused is points scored for Trump.

If Trump wins the election, these violent protestors will get what they deserve but not what they want.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

I Run A Pro Life Blog And Am Sick Of The Hate Mail From So Called “Tolerant” People

By Alexandra Van Erven

In an age and generation where people as a whole seem so concerned about being tolerant and respectful of other people’s opinions-regardless of whether or not they agree with them-people very quickly forget about those former words of tolerance and love and become the very thing they seek to defeat.

I would know. I have been on the receiving end of it.

As the writer and the woman behind Pro-Life Female, a popular Tumblr blog that has now reached nearly 1,250 followers in the two years of its existence, I’m used to my fair share of criticism.

By the name alone, you can guess that my stance on abortion is on the conservative side- I am a Pro-life, conservative, Catholic young woman. All rarities, I know. Regardless, my blog-just like my faith and my opinions- are part of what make me who I am.

I come across words of encouragement every day- messages thanking me for using my voice to further the pro-life movement, messages from people who with my words, have had their hearts and minds changed on the subject of abortion.

I have had women who with my blog and through personal messages have been successful in stopping a friend from going through with an abortion.

I even get messages of support from people who do not necessarily agree with my stances on abortion or even with my religion, but respect the fact that I am respectful of others, and do not make people feel horrible and make them feel like they are evil for believing differently than I do.

But then, I also get the messages that would make anyone’s skin crawl.

The ones who try to seem cool or edgy because they believe their words will have such a life changing impact that anyone who reads them will go back and think to change the way they believe, or what they said.

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Such was my experience when I woke up one April morning to find a flurry of about 5 hateful messages, seemingly coming from only one person.

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“Please don’t reproduce, spare our gene pool of your misguided sense of justice & equality,” said the first.

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“Subjecting the unborn offspring and the mother to untold trauma by limiting their resource to legitimate practitioners of abortion is fucking oppressive and you are a cancer to our specie,” said the next.

The consecutive ones were even more aimed towards me than the others.

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“What if you were out one day, got raped and impregnated with a baby you didn’t planned for? God has a fucking plan for everyone? Fuck off with your bullshit sense of justice.”

“How stupid do you have to be to think it’s right to limit other people’s right to exercise choice just because you have a different fucking religious belief? Separation of church and state is a fundamental principal and pro-life & other bullshit ideals on conception have no place outside of the Catholic Church.”

Over the last two years, I had gotten more hate mail, though thankfully nothing as terrible as other like-minded bloggers have gotten; death threats, notes to kill themselves, wishes for rape and other horrific things to be put upon them-just because they hold different beliefs and are not afraid of expressing them.

Even amongst blogs who do not share the same views, hateful speech that is truly threatening to a person’s livelihood is everywhere, and it is time that we all took a stand against it.

In order to truly become a place where we practice what is preached and become more tolerant of other people’s beliefs, we need to be tolerant, not just say we are tolerant to make us sound enlightened.

We need to respect and cultivate a culture where Catholic and Atheist, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, can engage in complete freedom of debate and in expressing their beliefs without wanting to pull steak knives at each other near the end of the conversation.

Of course, making these changes and advancing towards a more respectful and truly loving society will take time, and it won’t be easy.

But we have to make the effort to do so and practice the tolerance that we so preach and expect in this advanced society.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Terry Johnston/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

#RomaAreEqual: A Man Brutally Beat A Roma Boy And Put The Video Online Where It Backfired

By Contributor

By Jud Nirenberg

On April 18^th, a teenage boy I have never met, Mitko, stood up for me. Shortly after being beaten by a white supremacist, Mitko got to his feet and defended me some more.

Mitko is Romani, a member of Europe’s largest ethnic minority and, according to many polls, the minority against whom people hold the most prejudice.

He was on his way home in the small Bulgarian village of Ovchepoltsi when the much larger twenty-four year old Angel Kaleev approached him and asked him whether he thought that they were equals. Kaleev was video recording the encounter.

A nervous Mitko tried to smile and was clearly aware of the risk of assault: “Well, if you’re not going to hit me, I’ll say we’re equal.”

The attacker did hit him and forced him to the ground.

He cursed and berated the boy. “Am I a Gypsy?” he asked, repeatedly kicking Mitko and making him apologize for supposing that they were equal despite their ethnic difference.

Kaleev posted the video with his own racist commentary on social media.

Mitko was hurt but not convinced that Romani people are inferior to others. He made something of his own statement for social media.

He had a picture taken of himself holding a sign that reads #RomaAreEqual.

His defiance has provoked Roma across Europe and beyond to add their own #RomaAreEqual photos online.

It has also drawn out many racist social media posts by Bulgarians who find the slogan of equality offensive.

When this young man dared to say that Roma are equal to the face of a bigot with obvious violent intent, he was not only reaffirming his own dignity. He was defending my dignity, my son’s dignity, and that of all Romani people.

Knowing that he would have to get up the next day, go to his segregated school (in towns all over Bulgaria, Romani children are placed in segregated education) and then walk home on the same street where Kaleev stopped him before, Mitko chose to publicly show that this story is not over.

Advocacy organizations like the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center are now asking the Bulgarian government to offer plans to better respond to hate crimes.

The current political mood does not make equal rights a high priority.

If you see this, Mitko, you and Angel Kaleev are not equals. You are better.

Jud Nirenberg is the author of Johann Trollmann and Romani Resistance to the Nazis.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.

Cover Photo Credit: Romani Arts/ Twitter (Screengrab)

Trump Is Going To Get Someone Killed At His Rallies

By Rich Robinson

UPDATED: 8:35 PM EST

The shocking violence that broke out at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago, IL is actually not shocking at all.

It is the by-product of 7 years of race baiting by the far right of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

It is also the by-product of one of the most racist political campaigns over the last 50 years.

Not since the campaign of 1972 have we seen so much hate and vitriol spewed by one leading candidate for this nation’s presidency.

He’s attacked Mexicans.

He’s attacked women.

He’s attacked the disabled.

He’s attacked Muslims.

He’s attacked blacks.

He’s attacked the press.

And he’s going to get somebody killed.

Donald Trump’s racist, ugly campaign will get people killed and he will be responsible.

We as a country have to stop playing around with this guy.

He’s a threat to our democracy and to our way of life.

We are a nation that has rallied against the forces of racism and has still not defeated them.

Racism has been the greatest scourge of our Republic since the very beginning and yet we still have leading political figures who are trying to further their careers by dragging us into the fire.

It is disgraceful and it is dangerous. It is also deadly.

“Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago and after meeting with law enforcement has determined that for the safety of all of the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena, tonight’s rally will be postponed to another date,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Thank you very much for your attendance and please go in peace.”

Our country can’t go in peace.

We have to go to war and fight against Donald Trump and his neo-facist agenda.

The time for peace and appeasement is over.

We have to fight for our country.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us!

Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

When Hate Hits Home: This High School Student Says She Was Targeted For Being Jewish

By Erin Taylor Neuman

Hana Epstein, a high school student living in Katonah, NY recently received something in her mailbox that wasn’t mail- but instead a painful reminder that hate is still alive in the world.

In the early morning hours of January 25, Hana’s father went out to get the mail out of the family’s mailbox. He realized their mezuzahs had fallen off near the front door.

Hana’s dad continued to the mailbox where he discovered a white object that he thought was some kind of food lid.

After further inspection, he suddenly realized what it really was; a white square covered in swastikas. The name “Hannah” is also written across the square, with the last h underlined twice with a blue pen. The connection suddenly became evident.

“I was basically numb, I couldn’t really let it sink it just yet,” Hana Epstein said. “I’ve always heard of hate crimes being committed against Jews, but never in a million years did I think this would happen to me particularly.”

Hana lives in a neighborhood that is predominantly Jewish, so it was very unusual for something like this to happen.

“I had a wide array of emotions,” Hana’s mom Mara Gross Epstein said in a phone interview with RISE NEWS. “I was upset and angry and concerned for my daughter’s well-being. I was also amazed that this happened in Katonah, of all places.”

It took time for Hana to realize that there are hateful people in the world.

The entire episode created a sense of unease in the young student. She wasn’t able to sleep in her own house that night.

She looked around her room, looking at her Israeli flags and other tokens that reminded her of who she was. She said she could never understand why someone would do this to her just because she was part of a different religion.

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Hana was so upset she went to her cousin’s house and missed the next day of school.

Eventually Hana said that she realized there is a lesson to be taken away from this.

“I always have been as proud to be Jewish as I am,” Hana said. “I don’t hide the fact that I’m Jewish, Judaism means the world to me. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that I stand up for who I am.”

Hana wants to spread awareness about the terrible crimes committed by anti-semitic people all around the world.

She posted a picture on social media of her wearing a Tallit (a holy garment) on top of Masada in Israel; the caption was “I’ll always be proud to be Jewish.”

Hana Epstein is a high school student in New York state. Photo Credit: Submitted.

Hana Epstein wearing a tall it on top of Masada in Israel. Photo Credit: Submitted.

Starting in September, Hana will be spending a year abroad in Israel where she hopes to share her experience.

The family said that they have reported the incident to local police.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. Anyone can write for us as long as you are fiercely interested in making the world a better place.

Cover Photo Credit: Submitted.

Miss Puerto Rico Suspended Indefinitely For Anti-Muslim Comments

By Contributor

Looks like Miss Puerto Rico winner Destiny Vélez’s comments against Muslims have caught up with her as she has been indefinitely suspended from her role by the island’s official Miss America organization. Just last Thursday, Veléz engaged on a Twitter dialogue attacking Muslims and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore after he shared a photo of him standing… Read More

San Bernardino Shooting Victim’s Widow Says Husband Was Targeted Because He Was Jewish

By Contributor

LOS ANGELES — The widow of a man killed in last week’s rampage in San Bernardino said Monday that she believed the two shooters targeted her husband, and possibly other victims, because of their divergent religious beliefs. Jennifer Thalasinos told Sean Hannity on his Fox News show “Hannity” that her husband was a devout Messianic Jew… Read More

VIDEO: This Pastor Went On A Hatefully Epic Anti-Gay Rant

By Staff Report

Kevin Swanson is a right wing radio host and a pastor based in Elizabeth, CO.

He is also not a big fan of gay people. Actually, I think its fair to say that he hates them.

His bigotry was in full plume this past weekend at the Freedom 2015 Conference held in Des Moines, Iowa. The conference, which Swanson organized was a gathering of conservative Christian leaders and activists who believe that the United States is on a path to moral decay.

“The Supreme Court of the United States recently legalized homosexual marriage in all 50 states in the Obergefell V. Hodges decision,” a statement on the conference website read. Are you ready to face persecution for opposing the homosexual agenda?”

Swanson’s remarks on how he would handle the news if his son came out as gay is pretty hilarious and scary.

WATCH:

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Cover Photo Credit: Right Wing Watch/ Screenshot