Trump’s “go back” remark: In workplace, it might be illegal

NEW YORK» President Donald Trump’s suggestion that four activist Democratic congresswomen of color “go back” to countries “from which they came” has excited some in his political base. Yet in many of America’s workplaces and institutions, the same language would be unacceptable and possibly illegal.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal laws against workplace bias, explicitly cites comments such as “go back to where you came from” as examples of “potentially unlawful conduct.”

Similar phrases routinely show up in lawsuits that the EEOC files against employers alleging discrimination, harassment or retaliation based on race or national origin.

Apart from its legality in workplaces, Trump’s language has ignited impassioned responses across racial, ethnic and political divides.

“It wasn’t Racist!” tweeted Terrence Williams, a black comedian who supports Trump. “No matter what color you are, YOU can go back home or move if you don’t like America.”

By contrast, Rachel Timoner, a senior rabbi at a Reform Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn, said such language would never be tolerated among members of her congregation.

“I’d want to sit down with them and ask them, where that’s coming from?” she said. “If a person persistently degraded other human beings, I would need to say to them they could no longer participate. It’s really important for us to create an environment where people of color and people of all identities feel welcome.”

Facing an uproar from critics accusing him of racism, Trump has insisted that he wasn’t being racist when he tweeted last week that the four Democratic members of Congress — all but one of them born in the United States — “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe.” Trump urged them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”