On Thanksgiving, the President of the United States called Governor Tim Walz “seriously retarded.”

When asked days later if he stood by it, he said: “Yeah. I think there’s something wrong with him. Absolutely. Sure.”

To my disability community: I know you felt that. We ourselves, or the people we love, have been called this hateful word. A word with a history of institutionalization, sterilization, and at its core, treating us as less than human. The disability community spent decades fighting to get this word removed from federal law.

Words matter. We know that. We also know that when a word starts to be used in our media discourse, and by those with public platforms like our President, it can become part of our public discourse again. Tim Walz has stated that people are now driving by his house yelling the word at his family.

We at MDRC echo the calls of the disability community: the use of this word is not acceptable. It is not okay.

But we cannot talk about this slur without talking about the context in which it was used. The President didn’t use the R-word in isolation. It was part of a Thanksgiving tirade attacking Somali immigrants, calling them criminals, claiming they were “roving the streets looking for prey,” demanding they “go back to where they came from.”

Days later he went further. He called Somali immigrants “garbage.” He said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is “garbage.” He said her community “contributes nothing” and that “we don’t want them in our country.” It’s worth noting: the majority of Somali Americans in Minnesota are U.S. citizens, many born here. They are Americans. But the President’s language treats them as perpetual outsiders based on their ethnicity.

As a disability justice organization, we have to name what this is: ableism, racism, and xenophobia deployed together, in the same breath, against people the President wanted to dehumanize.

This is not a coincidence. These systems of oppression are connected. They share the same root: the belief that some people are worth less than others. The same thinking that uses the R-word as a weapon calls an entire community “garbage.”

When the President uses an ableist slur to insult someone’s intelligence, he’s telling people with intellectual disabilities that their existence is an insult. When he calls an immigrant community “garbage,” he’s saying they are disposable. Both statements deny humanity. Both cause harm. Both are unacceptable.

MDRC condemns the ableist language and the hatred rooted in xenophobia and racism. We reject all of it.

And to members of our community targeted by this rhetoric, including those in the disability community who are immigrants, refugees, Somali, or who have ever been told you don’t belong here: you do belong. You are not outsiders. You are our neighbors, and you are us. We are sorry for the hateful rhetoric directed at you and your families. You deserve to live without fear, without being called “garbage,” without being told to “go back.”

May our community rise together and continue to challenge hate in all its forms.

Theresa M., Executive Director

MDRC cultivates disability pride and strengthens the disability movement by recognizing disability as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity while collaborating to dismantle all forms of oppression.

[Image Description: Quote graphic with text: “The same thinking that uses the R-Word as a weapon calls an entire community garbage.” Below: “A Statement on Ableism, Racism, and Xenophobia from MDRC” with Michigan Disability Rights Coalition logo. End Image Descripion.]