What better way to mark the 250th anniversary of a nation founded on lofty ideals now plunged into ugly discrepancies than to double down on hate-and-fear-mongering? Cue a Racist-In-Chief who stays silent when 400 masked Nazis march in D.C. but goes online to assail graduating kindergarteners in Minnesota for wearing hijabs - goading his followers in vicious lockstep to screech, "Deport them, big and small!" Stay classy, MAGA.
Somehow, we still manage to be shocked at how ludicrously low the bar's sunk. Never mind the unhinged May hearing where House Repubs attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), following up on equally unhinged fraud charges, by directly quoting a letter from the same hate groups unhappy they'd been named hate groups. In a blistering response, a Dem rep called out their "embrace of white nationalist rhetoric" with the melted clock from the KKK’s 1983 firebombing of the SPLC, charging, "They’re trying to turn back the clock (on) some of the darkest days of our past.”
Then there's the Kentucky pastor of a Baptist church "befuddled" by this year's backlash against a 30-year-old ritual of their vacation Bible school wherein men in military garb march down their church aisle, pull "sinners" outside to a mock firing squad and pretend to open fire. Pastor Dewayne Walker blamed "misinformation" - "part of what this generation has become" - for outrage at “nothing more than a small part" of their school helpfully aimed at identifying good and evil. Others called the ritual "depraved" and "appalling abuse," noting, "There’s not enough context in the world to make this okay."
Same, alas, for much of what passes these dark days for political discourse. On America's 250th birthday, it was reported, about 400 neo-Nazis from the white nationalist Patriot Front joined the day's tawdry mayhem in D.C. by marching in masks and uniforms - seeking "the menace of a mob with none of the accountability" - chanting "Reclaim America." They looked unsettling enough that many on the right uneasily dismissed them as bad actors or imaginary Antifa; Laura Ingraham sneered, "I call fake," then righteously, nonsensically added, "No one should be allowed to cover their faces."
One image of the day went viral: A lone, young, tense Black woman, sitting on the Metro, surrounded by Nazis. "I have taught this photograph before," wrote a longtime teacher on I Fucking Love Australia, describing the September day in 1957 in Little Rock, AR. when 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, trying to integrate Central High School, was stopped by the National Guard. In the image, she walks alone in the white dress her mother had sewn for her first day through a screaming, snarling white mob. Asked for their response, one of today's students inevitably offers, "Look at their faces. They wanted to be seen."
"They believed history would agree with them," notes the teacher. "The men on that Metro" - in their masks and khakis - "did not." In the 1940s and '50s, states in the Jim Crow South passed laws banning masks in public, their nod to the brutal presence of the KKK; even they understood that a man who covers his face is not expressing an opinion - he is issuing a threat. "In 1957, the mob showed their faces because they thought history was on their side. In 2026 they hide their faces because they know it is not," the teacher wrote. "That is not nothing. That is 69 years of progress, measured in cowardice."
There was another, less widely viewed photo from that day on the train. Roswell Encina, a gay Filipino American, came to the US as an infant; his father served in the U.S. Navy. Roswell is head of the non-partisan U.S.Capitol Historical Society; as part of his job, he places replicas of the Declaration of Independence in embassies, stadiums, public places so ordinary people can read it and see it as their own story. The train on the 4th had been full of red, white and blue families heading to the fireworks; when they got off and the Nazis got on, he said the mood felt "unnerving" and he had to "summon my better angels" to stay put.
The group was civil and chatting; he tried not to make eye contact, looked up their patches on his phone, texted friends in a familiar safety ritual to say where he was. Later, neither wearing nor needing a mask, he spoke to reporters, in part to protect the young Black woman whose name was unknown. As a historian, he said he felt reassured unnerving" reassured a photographer was documenting the moment. "Democracy is very fragile," he said. "We need to stay engaged with history, civics, education. History is a conversation, and this is part of it." Then he cited another name and image from that earlier era: Ruby Bridges.
Ruby Bridges was six years old in November 1960 when she walked between federal marshals into her New Orleans school as its first Black student after a federal court ordered schools to integrate; white parents were so outraged they kept their kids home, and Ruby spent the year alone in her classroom. To memorialize the historic day, Norman Rockwell painted her, small and again set between marshals, walking along a stone wall where a member of another mob had scrawled "NIGGER" and thrown a tomato, which oozed down. Rockwell titled the 1964 painting, "The Problem We All Live With."
Ruby was 6. The 20 or so kids who proudly stood and joyfully sang on a stage in St. Paul, Minnesota last month were all five and six. A brief video clip from Somali TV of Minnesota shows them celebrating their kindergarten graduation at Gateway STEM Academy, a public charter school serving about 180 students, many Somali, most with legal immigration status, not that it should matter. They wore small sweet blue robes and caps, with hijabs under their mortarboards and white stoles around their shoulders whose rainbow letters, under a teddy bear, read, "Kindergarten Graduate."
Theirs was one of several school graduations celebrated around the state, and the country. It was the only one spotlighted online by a right-wing account named “End Wokeness,” which in 2024 went viral with the claim Haitian immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating people’s pets.This time, it posted a photo of the small celebrants with,
"The innocent, celebratory clip—originally posted in June by the right-wing “End Wokeness” account original caption: “Public school in Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”from End Wokeness,account went viral in 2024 claims Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating people’s pets in Ohio.
2026Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgumon television and called it free speech, makes democracy messy. declined condem
President of the United States Not one word.
Then Monday morning came, and he found his voice.
months after Trump called members of Minnesota’s Somali community “garbage.” government’s hostility against immigrants and anti-Somali rhetoric led students to “question their Americanness,” vandalism at mosques and women harassed for wearing hijabs a fire on a school bus this spring another charter school with many Somali students.Last month, Minnesota gop rep Tom Emmer town hall "We celebrate everyone's culture. We're happy with that, as long as you are an American,”Somali, okay, but they don't assimilate, and if they don't assimilate, then they should go the hell back to where they came from.
Trump twice posted a c video of muslim kindergarteners graduating from a st paul charter school,"a president sic a mob on 5-year-olds,
on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into
trump reposted twice a brief video clip of”This year, East African Elementary Magnet School three graduations, or “moving up” ceremonies — for prek, kindergarten, fifth grade. disruptions of ice Operation Metro Surge, added significance. took heart from the “resilience and the sense of normalcy.”
https://sahanjournal.com/education/trump-truth-soc...
The first time, without context. second time, he reposted quote added from an account
“Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota,”“Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
most people know“Children should be our red line,”
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/07/08/trumps-tr...
sparks safety concerns
incredibly sad, disappointing,a shock and horror,” fits intowhat we have been seeing. This demonization and targeting of Somali Americans in Minnesota and across the country,” live stream to family and friends in different states
what intended as a joyful community celebration, into something that spreads hate and fear is just abhorrent.”
Obviously,a blatant targeting of a communitynext thing is to worry about those actors who may act upon this behavior
A hijab covers hair. face, eyes, smile, whole singing face, is completely bare. in front of cameras showed us exactly who they are
Walz. “The President of the United States is attacking a group of kindergarteners because of the clothes they wore to school,”
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1up3p6r...
At least he is attacking his intellectual peers.an insult to kindergarteners.punching up He's just jealous they can read and comprehend at a higher grade level. parents:My kindergartener learn new things every day.potty traineds,hares without being asked, and likes to do nice thingsDon’t be rude. My kindergartner can run intellectual circles around that fool…
bad to indoctrinate young children into their parents religion look into Texas, Oklahoma and other Red states
The President of the United States looked at both groups in the same 48 hours.got his nearly 13 million followers turned loose on them. “anti-human” rhetoric. comments: There are just some cultures that don't belong and for good reason
This is the case for literally every single immigrant we unfortunately let in our country. they’re here to take advantage of our system and tell us how great theircountry is because they can rape their way through the population without consequence.
I think they have stolen enough money from the US that they can buy their own ticket. I could help them out with a size 13 boot
Thecouncil on American-Islamic Relationsstatement using his global platform to amplify anti-Muslim bigotry is putting lives at risk. dangerous escalation of religious hatred.""Children deserve to feel safe in their schools and communities.
“Somali Americans are an integral part of Minnesota’s past, present, and future. Our children deserve to be recognized for their potential – not used to fuel fear, division, or anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant narratives,
Wednesday’s news conference faith leaders from Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and Muslim traditions.
“Our children deserve to grow up knowing they are fully part of this state and this country, not to be told they do not belong because of what they wear,Imam Yusuf Abdulle, executive director of the Islamic Association of North America. “That is the Minnesota we believe in. That is the America we hope for.”
“I think they should recognize that this is their country,”
advocate and educator ms rachel sent a message sending ongratulations
“I saw some of you wore a hijab to your graduation,” Accurso wrote. “I am glad you wore something meaningful and special to you and your family. I think hijabs are beautiful.”“No matter what we wear, we all belong,”
“No matter what we wear, we all belong,
https://ifloz.substack.com/p/trump-said-nothing-ab...
the man they marched for sits in the White House,pointed at babies.
e children’s faces in this piece are blurred. We did that here at IFLA. It took about 60 seconds because that is what adults do when a photograph has somebody’s baby in it.
President of the United States, who commands the Secret Service, the FBI, the entire security apparatus of the most powerful nation on earth, could not find the 60 seconds. Because he was never trying to show you a graduation. He was showing his people where to aim.That is the whole story. Everything else is commentary.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
Abby Zimet | Radio Free (2026-07-10T20:45:03+00:00) Unmasking Hate: Whose Country, Our Country. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/07/10/unmasking-hate-whose-country-our-country/
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