For Immediate Release: Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017
PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania’s nurses and healthcare workers are outraged by the terrible news reports from Charlottesville, Virginia. The national mobilization of Nazis, Klansmen, and other white nationalists resulted in mounting violence against anti-racist protesters, culminating in at least one death and many injuries. Our horror is matched only by our anger that vigilante white supremacy has raised its ugly head once again. People of conscience must oppose it.
President Donald Trump’s response to the state of emergency in Charlottesville is weak. To condemn violence on “many sides” while avoiding the responsibility of white supremacists is moral cowardice. President Trump provides no leadership in a time of crisis. It is long past time that the President break his ties to white nationalism and speak out against a violent ideology that continues to shed so much blood.
Now is the time to come together in solidarity against white supremacy. As trade unionists, we know that the racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism on display in Charlottesville divides workers and hurts our communities. Even as we reach out to help the victims of the violence, we rededicate ourselves to the struggle for racial and social justice.
By uniting as working people, pulling together across our diverse communities, and confronting deeply institutionalized racism, nurses and healthcare workers can help relegate this violence to the troubled past. If we take a stand, we shall overcome.
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