There is a soul in the White House who lies every chance he gets, proclaiming that black folks love him, and claiming positive poll numbers in the black community.

In reality, the climate of racial and religious hate stirred up and embraced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters defies all logic. It seems as if the president, on a daily basis, selects a group within our society to defile.

I now expect this from Trump, so I am prepared to brace myself mentally and emotionally to process it. But to see and hear this coming from the South Jersey region where I was born and reside is disturbing. I can unflinchingly state that race relations today are the worst I have seen during my lifetime. Innocent people just trying to live their lives as best as they can are being senselessly killed because of this president's comments and many of his hate-filled, weak minded followers.

It has only been 15 days since Trump supporter Cesar Altieri Sayoc was arrested for trying to kill high-profile elected officials and other Trump critics by sending them explosive packages. This man was driving around South Florida in a personal vehicle covered with unsettling symbols right out of the Trump campaign. He followed the dangerous Trump script to the letter, his van emblazoned with pictures of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and others in a bulls-eye. Obviously, this was an effort to encourage, not deter, lethal action. Then the president, showing how ignorant he is, blamed the media more than this dangerous individual.

It gets worse.

Two weeks ago Robert Bowers walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, reportedly shouting "All Jews must die!" before allegedly shooting and killing 11 people. Bowers was angry with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which he believed was aiding the immigrant caravan that Trump is on record as claiming will "invade" the United States.

A Bowers post on the social media site GAB stated, "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

Because this man's level of fear and hate was driven sky high by Trump rhetoric, he's charged with of walking into a house of worship and shooting down innocent people as they prayed for peace, justice and forgiveness.

Finally, no one in New Jersey spewed more hate-filled or demeaning political rhetoric this election season than Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Seth Grossman.

Grossman was seemingly so transformed by self-hate, reconstituted into hate for others, that the National Republican Party dropped its support of him.

Here is a man with a religious minority heritage who unabashedly proclaims that those in the black community have not faced any discrimination in the North since the 1920s. He has also identified one of the main problems detrimental to the black community as" laziness."

This major-party candidate for Congress put a link on his Facebook page to a white nationalist website that included this statement: "... blacks are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well.They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike."

Now, that is about as racist as one can get. But 110,542 voters in the district --including a majority in the Salem and Ocean county portions -- voted for him anyway. Think about this. These Grossman voters apparently did not care that he promoted the view that black men, women and children were inferior just because of the color of their skin.

Although he lost the election by about 14,000 votes to Democrat Jeff Van Drew, it is a dangerous sign that so many people were willing to ignore Grossman's very public racism and vote for him to be their congressional representative. That is a clear message to me, others who look like me, as well and all others in minority groups, that we do not matter.

So, I should rejoice in U.S. Rep.-elect Van Drew's victory? I followed closely his campaign and could not a find a single direct rebuttal to his opponent's alarming views. Too many are afraid to speak up.

Our society's political landscape has been reduced to this. It's one why reason race relations are at their lowest point in decades, and that people are being killed.

Milton W. Hinton Jr. recently retired as director of equal opportunity for the Gloucester County government, and is past president of the Gloucester County Branch NAACP. Email: mwhjr678@gmail.com.

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