JACL Condemns Weekend Hate Rallies in Charlottesville and Seattle
OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2017
Press Release
Contact: Jeffrey Moy, Vice President for Public Affairs, jmoy@jacl.org
David Inoue, Executive Director, dinoue@jacl.org
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) joins with the overwhelming majority of Americans who denounce the racism, bigotry, and violence that resulted in three deaths this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is not the first overt act of terrorism against a minority community this year, but the first to result in death. The unbridled white supremacist ideology espoused at the rallies in Charlottesville and Seattle must not be accepted as free expression of opinion, but repudiated as an incitement to commit hate crimes against minority communities and individuals. Hate speech leads to hate crimes.
We take this opportunity to call attention to actions less violent in nature, but equally steeped in racist and bigoted ideology and equally devastating in effect upon minority communities. The Trump administration has systematically dismantled the very instruments our government has in place to protect minorities from discrimination.
The Justice Department’s rollback in the use of consent decrees to enforce civil rights laws leaves minority communities more vulnerable to discrimination from the very local government agencies that are intended to provide protection. The administration has indicated its intention to roll back the gains that affirmative action has brought to higher education. The unconstitutional travel ban is a focused effort to discriminate against people solely because of their religion.
The JACL has a long history of standing against racism and bigotry throughout our 88 years. These are not new expressions of hatred, but rather another mark in the long indelible stain upon our nation’s history of discrimination against minority people and their communities.
The Japanese American Citizens League is a national organization whose ongoing mission is to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote cultural, educational and social values and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American community.
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