Reports of racism and anti-immigrant fervor are swirling after a deadly weekend in Texas that renewed Democratic concerns about the state’s battle against bigoted extremism.
On Saturday, a shooter opened fire at a Dallas-area mall, killing eight people before he was fatally shot by a police officer. According to NBC News, a social media page appearing to belong to the gunman shared extremist beliefs with rants against Jews, women and racial minorities, as well as posts about struggling with mental health.
The next day, a motorist in Brownsville fatally struck eight people and injured at least 10 at a bus stop near a facility for migrants. A witness told NBC News that he observed the driver cursing at the migrants and raising his middle finger at them.
The suspect has been charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the crash was intentional.
The incidents come at a time when violent right-wing extremism — including dehumanizing rhetoric about migrants — is being embraced among Texas Republicans, all the way up to the governor. And the potential connections to race in both incidents aren’t going unnoticed, even as we await further confirmation of details.
Purported fears over migration form the foundation of the white supremacist “replacement theory” popular among conservatives these days. The theory baselessly claims that liberals — backed by powerful Jews — want to replace white Americans with people of color.
Texas Republicans — including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and members of the state’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Ted Cruz — have all pushed variations of the theory, such as characterizing migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “invasion.”
And they were widely condemned online after the past weekend’s bloodshed.
Regarding the Brownsville incident, the Texas Democratic Party chairman, Gilberto Hinojosa, issued a statement…
Read the full article here