We are outraged anyone would invite Ann Coulter to our home

Hate speech is both dangerous and ugly when it comes from someone like Ann Coulter. It is even more dangerous when it is encouraged by one of our county’s elected leaders.

By welcoming a high-profile figure known for her incendiary rhetoric to speak in our county, Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini is encouraging the criminalization and dehumanization of communities of color. He is helping to perpetuate a culture of hatred that can, and has, led to violence.

Besides being a supervisor, DeMartini is a farmer and serves on the county’s Stanislaus Republican Party Central Committee. In announcing that Coulter was coming to Stanislaus County for the group’s April 28 Lincoln Day fundraiser, he said he is “honored, and Modesto is lucky to have Coulter” accept the committee’s invitation.

We are not honored; we are outraged.

Coulter is a well-known purveyor of intolerance in her personal appearances, on her many television appearances and in the 13 books she has authored – including “Adios America,” a clear slam on Latino immigrants; “Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama,” a swipe at African Americans, and her latest, “In Trump We Trust,” which elevates a divisive president to deity status.

In her books, Coulter offers consistent messages that are anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, anti-Catholic, anti-women and anti-Muslim. Simply put, they are messages of hate aimed at demonizing people of color and those who disagree with her.

We remind those who decided to invite Coulter into our county that Latinos make up nearly 46 percent of Stanislaus County’s population.

We are especially disappointed in Supervisor DeMartini. After 12 years as an elected official, we thought he would know better. As a farmer who employs Latinos, we wonder why he would make a selection that divides our community rather than unites it. We wonder why he would want us to listen to someone whose values so dramatically clash with those of our community.

We are not against free speech. We value and honor our constitutional rights as Americans – especially our right to freedom of speech. The same freedom that allows Coulter to say what she likes when trying to stir up the anger in her audiences allows us to speak against her without fear of government retaliation or censorship. Yes, Coulter’s hate speech is protected, but it cannot be condoned.

When hate speech is encouraged – and paying her $25,000 to appear provides encouragement – by one of our county leaders, it further marginalizes communities of color and strengthens her message of intolerance. It could even perpetuate acts of hatred and violence against Muslims, Catholics and Latinos.

We are greatly insulted, ashamed and completely perplexed by DeMartini’s decision to stand by the local Republican Central Committee as it hosts a speaker who stands for divisiveness, bigotry, hate, ignorance and intolerance.

Why do we believe that’s Coulter’s message? Because we visited her website and found this new headline posted Thursday: “Immigrant privilege drives child rape epidemic.”

Below, she wrote: “Before breathing a sigh of relief that, unlike Western Europe, we don’t have Muslim rapists pouring into our country, recall that we have Mexican rapists pouring into our country.

“Almost all peasant cultures are brimming with rapists, pederasts and child abusers. Latin America just happens to be the peasant culture closest to the United States, while the Muslims are closest to Europe.”

It is horrifying and offensive to see such extreme and damaging rhetoric spewing from Coulter’s website. It’s just one of many examples.

Apparently, the Republican Central Committee has decided that this is a good way to raise money. But in choosing this speaker we hope they recognize that they are also normalizing hatred against their neighbors.

Our elected representatives should be raising their voices against such racism, not sitting quietly as one of their peers welcomes its author into our community.

It is not just Latinos who are outraged by Coulter’s visit; it is Sikhs, African Americans, Assyrians, Jews, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and whites who abhor intolerance.

Unfortunately, there are many among us who are looking forward to Coulter’s visit. Perhaps they agree with her sentiments or are entertained by her outrageous persona.

Our county is almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. We don’t believe that Republicans are racists any more than we believe Democrats are virtuous. This speaker is so beyond the pale that we believe people of every political persuasion can recognize she is divisive beyond repair.

We hope our Republican neighbors will choose not to attend this event and will stand with us in holding any elected official who does accountable in the next election cycle.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 8:52 AM with the headline "We are outraged anyone would invite Ann Coulter to our home."