This nonsense has to stop.

Since Election Day, the very worst among us have become emboldened to publicly show their bigoted selves in disturbing incidents around the country.

There was Pamela Taylor, the director of the nonprofit in a small West Virginia town of Clay, who referred to first lady Michelle Obama with a derogatory "ape in heels" slur on Facebook. Then Mayor Beverly Whaling having the audacity to respond Taylor's comment made her day.

First lady Michelle Obama speaks as she welcome community leaders from across the country to celebrate the successes and share best practices to continue the work of the Mayor's Challenge to End Veterans' Homelessness East Room of the White House complex in Washington, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP)

What's with the fliers distributed across campus at SMU explaining "Why white women shouldn't date black men?"

And the 19-year-old black Baylor student, Natasha Nkhama, who was shoved off a sidewalk by a man who said called her the n-word and said the Zambian-born Dallas County raised woman wasn't allowed there. He declared "I'm just trying to make America great again," borrowing from president-elect Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

And African-American Army vet Ernest Walker having his Veteran's Day free meal taken away at a Cedar Hill Chili's by a manager who doubted his credentials and questioned him about his service dog.

To be sure, there have been bad actors on both political sides. A man wearing a Trump hat reported being attacked by two men on the New York City subway. A Maryland high school student wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap was beaten by a group of anti-Trump protesters. And a Chicago motorist pulled from his car and attacked on Election Day.

It always gives us pause to draw attention to such despicable behavior. And it would be easy to chock these up as isolated incidents.

But there's been so many of them in so many of our nation's cities - most aimed at Latinos, blacks, Muslims and other "others" - that we feel compelled to denounce them for what they are.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded 437 incidents of hateful harassment between the day after the election and Monday of this week. That's "a big uptick" in such reports, according the law center's president - an alarming 73 a day. Such incidents are happening even happening in schools like Plano East High, where some minority students say racial slurs have been shouted at them.

The good news is that the responses to most of these cases have been admirable. The Clay mayor and county worker have resigned under a barrage of criticism. SMU President R. Gerald Turner publicly condemned the racist fliers as violating the university's values. Chili's apologized and the manager was removed for kicking out the vet.

But that doesn't erase the fact that they happened in the first place.

What occurred after the Baylor student's attack offers a hopeful example of how we can address the ugliness.

After Nkhama shared her story in a video on Facebook, 300 hundred schoolmates, teachers and administrators showed up to walk her to class. That's the kind of solidarity we need. It sends a strong message that we don't accept this type of offensive behavior.

Hundreds of people from the Baylor University community escorted student Natasha Nkhama to class after she was the target of a racially charged incident on campus, she said. Courtesy Waco TribuneCourtesy Waco Tribune (Waco Tribune)

Even Trump in an interview on "60 Minutes" turned to the camera and said anyone propagating such hate should "Stop It."

We couldn't agree more.

America is better than this.

Updated to include incidents of attacks on Donald Trump supporters.