An Alabama man pleaded guilty Tuesday after threatening District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat over prosecution and processing Donald Trump‘s allegations of election interference in Georgia.
The threats against Willis and Labat, who are both black, are part of a disturbing trend of Trump supporters threatening violence against government officials who have been portrayed in conservative media as Trump’s political enemies.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes in its report the threats made by Ray Hanson, a 58-year-old man from Alabama.
According to the AJC:
Hanson didn’t stop there:
As scary as these threats sound, it looks like Hanson is ready for a slap on the wrist. After pleading guilty and claiming that he is “not a violent person” and that he merely “made a stupid phone call,” the U.S. attorney assigned to the case has said they are asking for leniency because Hanson is guilty of his crimes has admitted.
Willis spoke out last year about the death threats, many of them racist, she received as she tried to prosecute Trump on charges of pressuring officials in Georgia to overturn the state’s 2020 election results and ban him wrongly calling Joe Biden the winner.
Hanson’s guilty plea is a reminder of the violent threats Black officials face across the country. My colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim reported earlier this week about a Texas man who sent racist death threats to California Rep. Maxine Waters, who is often portrayed by conservatives as a key Trump foil. Lim also cites a 2022 report showing that women of color are more likely than their white counterparts to experience violent threats online.
This disturbing trend is why the National Black Prosecutors Association last year condemned Trump’s claim that it is “racist” for black prosecutors like Willis to try to hold him accountable. Trump and other Republicans have groomed their followers to meet black officials with disdain and distrust. The violent threats are a natural consequence of their refusal to stop.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
