Story highlights David A. Love: Campaign and early presidency have helped set stage for hate crime surge

He says the President needs to speak out forcefully against hate crimes

David A. Love writes for thegrio.com. He is a writer and commentator based in Philadelphia. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidALove The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) The recent desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia and St. Louis, nearly 100 bomb threats made against Jewish day schools and community centers across the nation in just two months this year, and last week's possibly racially motivated killing of a Kansas man of Indian descent provide more evidence that America is witnessing a surge of hate crimes.

David A. Love

Many people are asking why President Donald Trump is not doing more to address these violent acts. Although he should be showing leadership and making every effort to quell this tide, he is not. Trump's first speech to Congress would provide a perfect opportunity to make a forceful statement against hate, should he choose to take advantage of it.

No one is accusing Trump and his advisers of vandalizing Jewish gravestones or gunning down immigrants. But that does not mean Trump bears no responsibility for the ever-increasing toxic environment in America. The man who inhabits the Oval Office is part of the problem -- by helping to create an environment of hate, intolerance and scapegoating, where people live in fear because of their race, ethnicity, religion, immigrant status or sexual orientation.

Throughout the election season, the Trump campaign fueled the fires of nativism, xenophobia and bigotry with promises to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. Donald Trump the candidate stereotyped Latino immigrants as rapists and murderers, and vowed to round up undocumented immigrants and create a Muslim registry reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

In his rallies, he whipped the crowds into a frenzy and openly encouraged acts of violence against protesters. And although he claimed he had never heard of David Duke -- the former KKK grand wizard who endorsed him -- candidate Trump enjoyed the support of white nationalists and hate groups who made robocalls on his behalf.

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