Brandon Stanton is the acclaimed eyes and brains behind the massive Facebook photojournalism page Humans Of New York.
As well as photographing the citizens of the Big Apple, he has also travelled extensively, particularly to areas of conflict in the Middle East.
He penned an open letter to Donald Trump on the HONY Facebook page, after growing tired of Trump’s incitement of violence, hatred and racism, and it’s brilliant.
He usually remains apolitical but changed his mind for this dire situation:
“I realize now that there is no correct time to oppose violence and prejudice.”
“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.”
Powerful stuff.
Full post here.
