USA Missouri state senator who posted and deleted comment hoping for president Trump assassination should publicly apologize to Trump
A short extract from "The Latest: Greitens tells senator to resign for Trump post", https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-latest-greitens-tells-senator-to-resign-for-trump-post/2017/08/17/92415046-83ab-11e7-9e7a-20fa8d7a0db6_story.html, dated 17th Aug. 2017:
"Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is calling for the resignation of a Missouri legislator who posted on Facebook that she hoped President Donald Trump would be assassinated.
Democratic state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal says she posted and later deleted the comment Thursday out of frustration over Trump’s reaction to the white supremacist rally and violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia."
The article also reports that Missouri state Democratic Party Chairman said 'that the comments were “indefensible” and that the (Democratic) party wouldn’t tolerate calls for the assassination of a president'.
Ravi: Any call including any 'hopes' for violence against USA president Trump, especially in the context of Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) incidents involving white supremacists and neo Nazis' abominable hatred and racism, but even otherwise, must be unequivocally condemned. The Missouri state senator deleted her comment/post on her personal Facebook page hoping for assassination of USA president Trump. But that's not enough, in my considered opinion. She should publicly apologize to, and seek forgiveness from, USA president Trump and his family & friends.
The article states that the Missouri state senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Chappelle-Nadal, said to Associated Press that she was wrong to write the comments/post, but that she was exercising her First Amendment right to free speech.
Ravi: Now I don't know the nuances of free speech laws in the USA, but I think it does allow for a lot of hate speech including calls for violence (e.g. call/threat to kill members of a particular religious community which one white supremacist/neo Nazi person in the Charlottesville rally made to a reporter and which video I saw). I thank God and the Indian constitution writers and Indian lawmakers, that independent India does not allow that kind of hate speech in its freedom of speech laws.
Now, even if USA freedom of speech laws allow such "hopes" of assassination to be publicly articulated, a representative of the people has to act more responsibly.
Here's a video interview of Chappelle-Nadal where she discusses the background to her putting up the post on her personal Facebook page (which she later deleted) and states that what she did was wrong and inappropriate, "FULL INTERVIEW: Chappelle-Nadal talks about her Facebook post mentioning assassinating Pres. Trump", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2XcOuBsaQg, 20 min. 35 secs, published on 17th Aug. 2017 by KSDK News. She talks about her experience of the Ferguson (unrest), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest, (in Aug. 2014) and about covert racism (in St. Louis, Missouri) against African-Americans - she seems to be an African-American herself. Note that Ferguson is a city in St. Louis county in Missouri. The Ferguson unrest wiki page mentions her name as a participant in the protests against the police then. "On August 11 [Ravi: 2014], police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd at the burnt shell of the QuikTrip convenience store, set on fire by looters the night before. According to reports, gunshots were fired in Ferguson and five people were arrested. Some protesters threw rocks at police officers. The police responded by firing tear gas and bean bag rounds at protesters which included state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal."
Around 4:05 in the video she is asked "(Are you) apologizing for it?". Chappelle-Nadal replies, "No. When the president apologizes for what he says, I will apologize."
She also says later that she is getting hate mail and death threats now, and that she is accustomed to it as it happened during Ferguson (unrest) too.
At around 19:10 she says,"I told you that it was a bad decision that I made and I made it out of frustration. It was inappropriate but I am not going to shy away from the frustration and the anger that I have. That is my statement. That is what I am going to continue to tell people because it's real. I have never seen this type of environment (like this). I have never seen it. And, as I said before, it should not matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, it is inexcusable for a sitting president to support KKK members and Nazis. Supporting white supremacy is inexcusable in this day and age. We have too much to work towards."
Ravi: So Chappelle-Nadal accepts that she made a mistake in writing her post and that it was wrong. That's the good part of it. But now that it has become known to a large audience worldwide that she did write that post (even if she later deleted it), shouldn't she apologize to President Trump (and his family & friends)? I think she should. But she refuses to do so and ties in her apology to President Trump apologizing for supporting KKK, white supremacists and neo-Nazis!
I think the Tuesday unscripted comments of President Trump have created the wide impression, irrespective of whether it is true or false, that President Trump's condemnation of white supremacists and neo-Nazis is insincere and that he actually supports white supremacists and neo-Nazis! I must say here that as an Indian writer on spirituality & religion, on this very serious matter (to me) of condemning (and opposing) the evil of white supremacy and neo-Nazism, I limit myself to public words and actions of President Trump (not pre-President Trump including candidate Trump). From that perspective, I DO NOT SEE EVIDENCE to conclude that President Trump INTENTIONALLY supports white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Instead it seems to me that President Trump's Tuesday unscripted remarks show a DENIAL to accept, what seems to me to be the reality, that most protesters (I refer to those protesting against the protesters as counter-protesters) in Charlottesville were white supremacists and neo-Nazis. And I must also say that I did not come across USA mainstream media reports of ANY USA Senator (publicly) sharing that view of President Trump. Instead, we had quite a few Republican USA senators refer to the (majority of the) protesters in Charlottesville as white supremacists and neo Nazis.
I think I understand at least some of the pain and frustration that Chappelle-Nadal has with President Trump's remarks on Charlottesville (e.g. both sides to blame). And I do note that African-Americans have suffered violence and even death due to racism in the USA even in the recent past. I can imagine the shivers of terror and the red-hot righteous fury that African-Americans TODAY would be feeling when they see white-supremacists and neo-Nazis openly holding rallies and indulging in horrific hate speech against African-Americans (and other non whites). Chappelle-Nadal, as a speaker for the oppressed African-Americans, must be having a lot of pain and frustration with President Trump's remarks on Charlottesville.
But it is my considered view that Chappelle-Nadal is wrong in tying her possible apology to an apology from President Trump for his Charlottesville remarks. I think Chappelle-Nadal crossed the line, in a BIG WAY, with her "hopes" of assassination of President Trump post. Simply deleting the post and saying she was wrong is NOT ENOUGH. It is my considered view that she needs to publicly and UNCONDITIONALLY apologize to USA President Trump (and his family & friends) and seek their forgiveness, for her mistake.
[I thank washingtonpost.com and wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above small extracts from their websites on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
"Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is calling for the resignation of a Missouri legislator who posted on Facebook that she hoped President Donald Trump would be assassinated.
Democratic state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal says she posted and later deleted the comment Thursday out of frustration over Trump’s reaction to the white supremacist rally and violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia."
The article also reports that Missouri state Democratic Party Chairman said 'that the comments were “indefensible” and that the (Democratic) party wouldn’t tolerate calls for the assassination of a president'.
Ravi: Any call including any 'hopes' for violence against USA president Trump, especially in the context of Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) incidents involving white supremacists and neo Nazis' abominable hatred and racism, but even otherwise, must be unequivocally condemned. The Missouri state senator deleted her comment/post on her personal Facebook page hoping for assassination of USA president Trump. But that's not enough, in my considered opinion. She should publicly apologize to, and seek forgiveness from, USA president Trump and his family & friends.
The article states that the Missouri state senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Chappelle-Nadal, said to Associated Press that she was wrong to write the comments/post, but that she was exercising her First Amendment right to free speech.
Ravi: Now I don't know the nuances of free speech laws in the USA, but I think it does allow for a lot of hate speech including calls for violence (e.g. call/threat to kill members of a particular religious community which one white supremacist/neo Nazi person in the Charlottesville rally made to a reporter and which video I saw). I thank God and the Indian constitution writers and Indian lawmakers, that independent India does not allow that kind of hate speech in its freedom of speech laws.
Now, even if USA freedom of speech laws allow such "hopes" of assassination to be publicly articulated, a representative of the people has to act more responsibly.
Here's a video interview of Chappelle-Nadal where she discusses the background to her putting up the post on her personal Facebook page (which she later deleted) and states that what she did was wrong and inappropriate, "FULL INTERVIEW: Chappelle-Nadal talks about her Facebook post mentioning assassinating Pres. Trump", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2XcOuBsaQg, 20 min. 35 secs, published on 17th Aug. 2017 by KSDK News. She talks about her experience of the Ferguson (unrest), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest, (in Aug. 2014) and about covert racism (in St. Louis, Missouri) against African-Americans - she seems to be an African-American herself. Note that Ferguson is a city in St. Louis county in Missouri. The Ferguson unrest wiki page mentions her name as a participant in the protests against the police then. "On August 11 [Ravi: 2014], police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd at the burnt shell of the QuikTrip convenience store, set on fire by looters the night before. According to reports, gunshots were fired in Ferguson and five people were arrested. Some protesters threw rocks at police officers. The police responded by firing tear gas and bean bag rounds at protesters which included state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal."
Around 4:05 in the video she is asked "(Are you) apologizing for it?". Chappelle-Nadal replies, "No. When the president apologizes for what he says, I will apologize."
She also says later that she is getting hate mail and death threats now, and that she is accustomed to it as it happened during Ferguson (unrest) too.
At around 19:10 she says,"I told you that it was a bad decision that I made and I made it out of frustration. It was inappropriate but I am not going to shy away from the frustration and the anger that I have. That is my statement. That is what I am going to continue to tell people because it's real. I have never seen this type of environment (like this). I have never seen it. And, as I said before, it should not matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, it is inexcusable for a sitting president to support KKK members and Nazis. Supporting white supremacy is inexcusable in this day and age. We have too much to work towards."
Ravi: So Chappelle-Nadal accepts that she made a mistake in writing her post and that it was wrong. That's the good part of it. But now that it has become known to a large audience worldwide that she did write that post (even if she later deleted it), shouldn't she apologize to President Trump (and his family & friends)? I think she should. But she refuses to do so and ties in her apology to President Trump apologizing for supporting KKK, white supremacists and neo-Nazis!
I think the Tuesday unscripted comments of President Trump have created the wide impression, irrespective of whether it is true or false, that President Trump's condemnation of white supremacists and neo-Nazis is insincere and that he actually supports white supremacists and neo-Nazis! I must say here that as an Indian writer on spirituality & religion, on this very serious matter (to me) of condemning (and opposing) the evil of white supremacy and neo-Nazism, I limit myself to public words and actions of President Trump (not pre-President Trump including candidate Trump). From that perspective, I DO NOT SEE EVIDENCE to conclude that President Trump INTENTIONALLY supports white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Instead it seems to me that President Trump's Tuesday unscripted remarks show a DENIAL to accept, what seems to me to be the reality, that most protesters (I refer to those protesting against the protesters as counter-protesters) in Charlottesville were white supremacists and neo-Nazis. And I must also say that I did not come across USA mainstream media reports of ANY USA Senator (publicly) sharing that view of President Trump. Instead, we had quite a few Republican USA senators refer to the (majority of the) protesters in Charlottesville as white supremacists and neo Nazis.
I think I understand at least some of the pain and frustration that Chappelle-Nadal has with President Trump's remarks on Charlottesville (e.g. both sides to blame). And I do note that African-Americans have suffered violence and even death due to racism in the USA even in the recent past. I can imagine the shivers of terror and the red-hot righteous fury that African-Americans TODAY would be feeling when they see white-supremacists and neo-Nazis openly holding rallies and indulging in horrific hate speech against African-Americans (and other non whites). Chappelle-Nadal, as a speaker for the oppressed African-Americans, must be having a lot of pain and frustration with President Trump's remarks on Charlottesville.
But it is my considered view that Chappelle-Nadal is wrong in tying her possible apology to an apology from President Trump for his Charlottesville remarks. I think Chappelle-Nadal crossed the line, in a BIG WAY, with her "hopes" of assassination of President Trump post. Simply deleting the post and saying she was wrong is NOT ENOUGH. It is my considered view that she needs to publicly and UNCONDITIONALLY apologize to USA President Trump (and his family & friends) and seek their forgiveness, for her mistake.
[I thank washingtonpost.com and wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above small extracts from their websites on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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