President Donald Trump reposted a post on Truth Social that singled out young schoolchildren. He shared a video of kindergarten graduates, which got criticism from civil rights groups who accused him of putting a target on the school.
Donald Trump reposts video of kindergarten graduates in hijab
On July 6, Donald Trump reposted a clip from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. The video showed kindergarteners in caps and gowns, smiling and singing on stage during their graduation ceremony. Most of the girls in the video wore hijabs beneath their blue graduation caps.
The clip was first shared on X (formerly Twitter) in June, posted by the right-wing account End Wokeness. That post was made with the caption: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.” Trump now reshared it on Truth Social without adding a comment of his own (via PEOPLE).
The repost got condemned. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil rights group, along with its Minnesota chapter, called the repost dangerous for the children involved.
In a joint statement, CAIR and CAIR-MN said Donald Trump’s decision to amplify the post put the school’s students at risk. They pointed to a recent act of violence for context: “Just two months ago, two white supremacists attacked a mosque and private school full of children in San Diego.” The organizations added, “Children deserve to feel safe in their schools and communities. When a political leader validates hate speech, it gives bigots a green light to target minority children.”
CAIR called on people across the political spectrum to reject what it described as an escalation of religious hatred. After all, this is not the first time Trump has targeted Minnesota’s Muslim and Somali communities.
In December, he referred to Somali immigrants and Rep. Ilhan Omar as “garbage” during a televised Cabinet meeting, and suggested they should leave the country. “I don’t want them in our country,” he said at the time, adding, “I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country.”
