The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a statement following the rally of White nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia on Sunday morning.
“The blatant racism on display in Charlottesville is absolutely disgusting. It’s hard to believe that in 2017 we are still plagued by so much race-based hatred. The NAACP will always stand against hate and any persons who threaten the moral right of our community,” Derrick Johnson, interim president and CEO of the NAACP, says in the statement to press.
On Saturday, August 12, in Charlottesville, a college town in Virginia, White nationalists, White supremacists and neo-Nazis staged an alt-right rally protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from Emancipation Park. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a Dodge Challenger charged into a crowd of counter demonstrators.
The statement by the NAACP noted, “These kinds of actions should come as no surprise, however. We are living under an administration that campaigned on hatred, discrimination and xenophobia. They have given permission and a platform for bigots, like the right-wing, white nationalists in Charlottesville, to thrive and spread violence.
“While we acknowledge and appreciate President Trump’s disavowment of the hatred which has resulted in a loss of life [ ]today, we call on the President to take the tangible step to remove Steve Bannon – a well-known white supremacist leader – from his team of advisers. Bannon serves as a symbol of white nationalism and his high place in the White House only energizes that sentient.
“We must help to bridge what divides Americans rather than widen the gap between us. In the meantime, the NAACP stands strong with our brothers and sisters in Charlottesville who are gathering, marching and singing for peace. We are and will continue to be steadfast and immovable in the fight against discrimination, prejudice and hatred – and we are not afraid.”
