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Richmond Free Press

August 17-19, 2017

Letters to the Editor

Racist groups must be viewed as direct threat to national security We are concerned about the white supremacist-organized domestic terrorist threat facing the United States. And we say to members of Congress, enough is enough. It is time to do something about it. These organized domestic terrorists and their leaders operate through dozens of groups known to law enforcement agencies as white nationalists, white supremacists, white separatists, altReich Nation, Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, neoConfederates, neo-Nazis, racist skinheads and Christian Identity, which represent a direct threat to our national security. The American people must never tolerate any groups hiding behind the First Amendment, Second Amendment or any law to intimidate, kill or injure American citizens based on the removal of a Confederate battle flag or statue of a Confederate monument. The American people must be reminded that the foundation of

bigotry, hate crimes, political or judicial bias, white supremacy and racial segregation and the denial of equal protection under the law to people of African ancestry and citizenship in the United States rests upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on March 6, 1857, in Scott v. Sandford, written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a white supremacist. In that decision, the court said that current or former slaves and their descendants had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” On April 4, 1967, as the war in Vietnam was reaching its full fury, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And he said, “Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” It is our hope, and the hope of the vast majority of the

American people, that Congress will hear the cries for corrective justice and for peace from people of good will in this nation and all over the world. The state of our union requires Congress to make it a priority to enforce RICO laws, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, against these arms-carrying, white supremacist- organized corrupt domestic terrorist hate-crime groups whose leaders, members and associates continue to engage in inhumane acts of violence and bigotry. We must enforce RICO laws against these groups without delay. ROY L. PERRY-BEY Hampton The writer is director of Civil Rights for the United Front for Justice.

Trump ‘We could only hope and violence in to live up to the words on Charlottesville the Reconciliation Statue’ In the bright sunlight, Richmond’s Reconciliation Statue, unveiled a decade ago by then-Gov. Tim Kaine and seen as an apology for this country’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, cast an appropriate shadow upon our sorrow. Hundreds of us gathered Sunday at the statue. We wanted to send a living sympathy card to the City of Charlottesville, where violence had caused the death of three people and the injury of 19 others. And we wanted to condemn the racism and bigotry that caused this violence. We listened to speakers, sang “Our God Is An Awesome God,” “America” and “We Shall Overcome,” and prayed. Delegate Delores McQuinn reminded us that we still had work to do. “Evil has always over-extended itself,” she said. We had to dismantle hate with love, unity, reconciliation, the power of prayer and joining together. Dr. Cheryl Ivy Green said we had to concentrate on what united us rather than what divided us. She said we ought to be concerned when someone wears a helmet to a peaceful protest. Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who had visited the families of the state troopers who lost their lives, found the energy to declare to those who came to hurt us, “Go home!” And, “You only made us stronger.” He said white supremacists and Nazis were not patriots and that, from the White House to the State House, we had to call

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out bigotry and refuse to tolerate it. Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney said although he had often been told he was too young, he was not too young to know the difference between love and hate. He said we had “to send a message that we will march forward for equality” and kick the hate out of our cities and our state. Congressman A. Donald McEachin said we had gotten here by thinking a person who said he could get away with shooting someone in the street and grabbing women’s private parts would never be elected. “What to do? Go to the voting booth.” The Rev. Sylvester Turner said conversion started with us looking at ourselves, acknowledging the present and looking to a higher power. He prayed our president would come to understand he is God’s servant, and we would lift President Trump up for God to open his heart. Dr. Alonza Lawrence was in Charlottesville during the violent rally. “You never want that to come to Richmond,” he said. In his benediction, he prayed that God would spread blessings over all people and give us the faith and selflessness to go forth in God’s name. We could only hope to live up to the words on the statue: “Acknowledge and forgive the past. Embrace the present. Shape a future of reconciliation and justice.” FRANCES BROADDUS-CRUTCHFIELD Powhatan County

‘Our ancestors were robbed’

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Having lived in Alabama, I can recall how former Gov. George Wallace used racist language to incite his white supremacist followers to violence. President Trump’s messages are the same. They also make it very clear that what is needed is a viable U.S. third political party, not a party run by hate and extremist groups. Hate groups and hate mongers played a huge role in electing President Trump. Their propaganda shows that the most violent white supremacist groups are 100 percent in support of President Trump. People like Richard Spencer, Alex Jones, David Duke and, of course, Stephen Bannon view his election as a license for antiSemitic harassment and intimidation of minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ community members and Muslims. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, another Alabamian, is waging war against a mythical crime wave and border drug war with the approval of President Trump. Now it looks like another Alabamian, Christian right extremist Ray Moore, will win the election for Mr. Session’s former U.S. senate seat. The GOP supported grandstanding from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and hypocrite Rand Paul and, thanks to the Republican Party’s racist obstruction against President Obama for eight years, they now find themselves with Donald Trump as their party leader. After the Charlottesville rally and deaths of three people, 45 made his usual, “blame others” statement similar to the empty ones he makes regarding Vladimir Putin and Russia. Statements from the Justice Department and Mr. Sessions will end up being meaningless words. If you check the records, you will find that since January 2017, the consequences of 45’s hate-filled rhetoric has been an increase of violence by his supporters. Many in and out of the Republican Party argue that number 45 lacks the intelligence and temperament to be president and leadership qualities to be in charge of U.S. foreign policy. However, 45 is still the leader of the Republican Party with a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy chaotic presidency.

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