HONY’s Brandon Stanton writes open letter to Donald Trump

Brandon Stanton, the man behind the popular website, Humans of New York, has written a powerful open letter to US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump who has been causing outrage among many with his racist ideas.

Stanton begins his heartfelt letter by sharing his unwillingness to enter political debates or take sides. Noting how hard he tries to be nonpartisan in his work, the photographer offers a powerful rationale that opposing Trump is a moral, not a political decision.

“Along with millions of Americans, I’ve come to realise that opposing you is no longer a political decision. It is a moral one,” Stanton writes.

The post comes after a violent week in Chicago, where Trump’s supporters clashed with protesters after which, the candidate was forced to cancel a rally. However, instead of taking responsibility for his supporters, the Republican presidential frontrunner blamed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his supporters for the riots and threatened the Vermont senator.

“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,” Stanton writes to Trump.

Along with citing this incident, Stanton criticises Trump over the numerous controversial statements he has recently made, like his will to execute Muslims with bullets dipped in pig blood, banning them from entering the United States, saying that Islam hates America and comparing refugees to snakes. “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,” the letter reads.

Stanton also challenges Trump’s statements by sharing his experiences as a journalist in Muslim countries like Pakistan, which he visited last year in August, Iran and Iraq. “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,” he adds.

Stanton continues slamming “racist” Trump for spreading hatred in his greed for personal power, and concludes by reflecting on his ignorant character, writing, “you will always remain who you are”.

Below is Stanton’s open letter in full:

Stanton’s comments struck a chord as his post went viral. Since he posted it on HONY’s Facebook page 14 hours ago, the message has received over 1,470,000 likes and 860,000 shares.