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In Wake Of Charlottesville, Activists Call On Rep. Mike Turner To Denounce White Supremacy

Heath McAlpine and Mary Ramey of Dayton Indivisible For All pose by the letter addressed to Representative Mike Turner
Kristin Stratman
/
WYSO

The anti-Trump activist group Dayton Indivisible For All is calling on Republican 10th District Congressman Mike Turner to hold a town hall meeting in the wake of the weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Members of the organization hand-delivered a letter to Turner's office in downtown Dayton asking that Turner openly condemn groups that promote white supremacy and racial violence.

 

 

Organizer Mary Ramey says it’s important for Turner to speak out.

 

“Legally, silence gives assent to an action or a declaration, so by saying nothing, Rep. Turner is silently giving assent to the hate and the violence that was expressed this weekend in Charlottesville,” she says.

 

About 120 people signed the letter Saturday during a vigil for the victims of the Charlottesville attack.

 

Turner has since released a statement on his Facebook page:

 

"As a lifetime member of the NAACP, I have been in touch with Dayton NAACP former President Jessie Gooding and current President Derrick Foward to discuss the effects of #Charlottesville on our community. I am proud of Dayton's ongoing commitment to diversity. We will continue to stand together to denounce hate."

 

A Toledo-area man is accused of driving a vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally. The attack left one person dead and at least 19 others injured.