Trump needs to step up, condemn those who promote hate
On the first anniversary of the Charlottesville, Virginia “Unite the Right” horror that triggered the murder of noble counter-protester Heather Heyer and the deaths of two law enforcement officers, one would look to the president, the moral leader of our nation, to commemorate the event in a manner which is reflective of a country that preaches tolerance and liberty and justice for all.
Although the president felt the need to say something on this occasion, his words fell far short of what was necessary. He spoke only in general terms in condemnation of Charlottesville’s “senseless death and division” and condemned “all forms of racism and acts of violence.” Who was responsible for what took place in Charlottesville, Mr. President? Was it the white supremacists and Nazis or those who protested their hatred?
Virginia Democratic U. S. Senator Mark Warner had it exactly right in his comments on the atrocity: “A group of white nationalists came to a peaceful Virginia town seeking to use hate and division to incite violence against fair-minded, innocent civilians.” So did former Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, who is now seeking to represent Utah in the Senate. In a swipe at the president’s outrageously offensive comment last year that there were “good people on both sides” in Charlottesville, Mr. Romney said, “People who knowingly march under the Nazi banner have disqualified themselves as ‘good people'”.
Why will our president not make us proud and honor America by categorically condemning those who promote hate rather than stating or implying that there is an equivalence between the haters and those who challenge them? I believe that those who objectively observe and study this president know the answer.
Oren Spiegler
South Strabane