Open letter to Donald Trump by Humans of New York creator has gone viral

An open letter to the Republican juggernaut Donald Trump from Brandon Stanton, the creator of the acclaimed photo blog “Humans of New York”, has gone justifiably viral.

The letter, posted on his Twitter and Facebook pages, has broken the internet with his simple yet scathing rejection of Trump as an American presidential candidate. Stanton categorically states that he finds hatred not in Muslims or immigrants, but in the man, who screams such things, himself.

In the letter, Brandon discusses his reasons for rejecting Trump, who he believes, encourages violence and hate.

The tweet has garnered 11,000 retweets already, while the Facebook post has over 7 lakh likes and 2.3 lakh shares.

Here is the text of the letter:

Mr Trump,

I try my hardest not to be political. I’ve refused to interview several of your fellow candidates. I didn’t want to risk any personal goodwill by appearing to take sides in a contentious election. I thought: “Maybe the timing is not right.”

But I realise now that there is no correct time to oppose violence and prejudice. The time is always now. Because along with millions of Americans, I’ve come to realise that opposing you is no longer a political decision. It is a moral one.

I’ve watched you retweet racist images. I’ve watched you retweet racist lies. I’ve watched you take 48 hours to disavow white supremacy. I’ve watched you joyfully encourage violence, and promise to "pay the legal fees" of those who commit violence on your behalf.

I’ve watched you advocate the use of torture and the murder of terrorists’ families. I’ve watched you gleefully tell stories of executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pig blood. I’ve watched you compare refugees to "snakes", and claim that "Islam hates us".

I am a journalist, Mr Trump. And over the last two years I have conducted extensive interviews with hundreds of Muslims, chosen at random, on the streets of Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan. I’ve also interviewed hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees across seven different countries.

And I can confirm — the hateful one is you.

Those of us who have been paying attention will not allow you to rebrand yourself. You are not a “unifier”. You are not “presidential”. You are not a “victim” of the very anger that you’ve joyfully enflamed for months.

You are a man who has encouraged prejudice and violence in the pursuit of personal power. And though your words will no doubt change over the next few months, you will always remain who you are.

Sincerely,

Brandon Stanton