FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Besse
Tel: 336-760-4678
Email: Dan.Besse@nationaldmo.org

DMO STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE EVENTS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE AND CONTINUING SUBSEQUENT REPERCUSSIONS

Chicago, IL, August 18, 2017 –

It is time for all Americans, regardless of party or region, to come together in support of unity and equality for all.

The killing and violence in Charlottesville were the acts and responsibility of adherents of the old, ugly plague of white supremacy.  We cannot accept or tolerate false moral equivalencies that blame victims of white supremacy for the violence perpetrated against them.

Our hearts go out to the families of those who were killed and injured last Saturday, including both the peaceful counter-protester who was slain in a criminal act of domestic terrorism, and the two state troopers who lost their lives in a tragic air accident.

It is also time for us all to understand that the acts of violence and intimidation in Charlottesville were far from isolated incidents.  They reflect a deeply rooted and currently growing strain of the shameful ideologies of racist hatred.  That doctrine of hate must never again be treated as just another brand of ordinary political thought.  It is unacceptable, illegitimate, and anathema to the true ideals of our American nation.  We stand today in unity with the people of Charlottesville and all the communities around our nation who are facing down that fear and hatred.

Local leaders across our nation are rightfully calling out those white supremacists, the KKK, and neo-Nazis as the parties responsible for the terror in Charlottesville.  Along with national leaders in both parties, these local Democrats are taking the clear moral stand our current president refuses to take.

From Baltimore to Birmingham, Democrats are taking action to finally remove the long-standing symbols of slavery and oppression.  Often, they are doing so despite the efforts of backward-looking legislators in their states who want to repress this overdue community self-examination. When the descendants of slaves look upon our modern cities, they should not see a monument celebrating the history of their subjugation.

As elected leaders of our cities and towns across our nation, the members of DMO are committed to supporting our colleagues in discussing, examining, and remedying the problems that stem from our national history of racial violence.  We recognize that in many southern and border-state communities, the solutions must include an honest examination of what were used in Charlottesville as rallying points for the hate-filled ideologues of white supremacy: the Confederate monuments erected during the eras of Jim Crow and civil rights struggle.

In recent years, the Republican-dominated legislatures of four states have passed laws preempting local communities from acting to address this issue.  We support our colleagues in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee who are calling upon their state legislatures to stop standing in the way of their local community-based efforts to represent all of their constituents, no matter their color.

It is time for all of us to be about the honest, hard work of building a truly inclusive society.

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For more information, please contact DMO President Joe Buscaino at 202-759-3041