Domestic Violence
U.S. Rep. McSally speaks out on Charlottesville, but critics say it’s too little, too late
In last week’s Skinny, we talked about the local reaction to the deplorable events in Charlottesville, when low-rent would-be Nazis marched in the streets and clashed with counter-protestors who stood against their intolerable message of hate for Jews and minorities.
We mostly focused on Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, who declared on Facebook that she was “sick and tired of being hit for being white… It is all about making us feel like we need to apologize. I am WHITE—and proud of it! No apologies necessary.”
Miller showed just how proud she really was when she chickened out this week and told her colleagues she wouldn’t be participating in this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting after she learned that members of our community were going to show up and let her know that embracing your white pride on the day that Nazis are marching in the streets is, to say the least, shitty timing. As usual, Ally remains in hiding when it comes to facing the consequences of her words. (See Danyelle Khmara’s “White Flight” on Page 4 for details on the Board of Supes meeting.)
We also mentioned that Congresswoman Martha McSally had remained silent on the events of Charlottesville. We should have added “as of our deadline”—shortly after the paper went to press, McSally did issue a statement on Twitter, saying, “Let’s be clear: white supremacy or any form of racism, bigotry, violence or domestic terrorism has no place in America.”
Those words aren’t enough for McSally’s critics. Kristen Randall, the leader of Indivisible Southern Arizona, said McSally was slow to respond: “She waited three or four days” before sending out the brief tweet after members of the public pressured her to say something.
Randall said Indivisible Southern Arizona focused this week’s protest in front of McSally’s midtown office because she wanted to put pressure on the congresswoman—in her role on the House Homeland Security Committee—to ensure that federal officials continue monitoring white nationalist groups. Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut grants to groups working to counter violent extremism by American neo-Nazis and other domestic hate groups, saying the focus should shift to radical Islamic movements.
“We want to see her hold hearing with DHS and DOJ,” Randall said.
Randall said that in the wake of Charlottesville, she has a new concern about protesting against McSally and will no longer bring her toddler to the rallies.
“I think I need to be brave, because we are trying to make change for good and if we’re too afraid, nothing will get done,” Randall said. “But I don’t want to bring my kid there. … I think about people who sat back and allowed atrocities to go on, either through not paying attention or through fear, and I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to let fear stop me from doing what I do.”
Meanwhile, Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, the former Arizona congresswoman who gave up her CD1 seat to unsuccessfully challenge Sen. John McCain, is now hoping to unseat McSally next year. She was also critical of McSally’s reaction to the events in Charlottesville.
“It was pretty tepid,” Kirkpatrick said. “She should have released a statement immediately and called it out for what is was—a demonstration of hate and violence and racism. And she waited. And she really has not led any kind of effort to call out the president for the terrible things that he’s been saying. It’s a disappointment.”
This week, Kirkpatrick joined some Democratic state lawmakers to demand that Gov. Doug Ducey remove the Confederate memorial in the Wesley Bolin Plaza outside the Arizona Legislature and “say once and for all that we’re not going to celebrate slavery or the government that fought to uphold such an ugly stain on our history.”
“These are not the values we want to be teaching our children,” Kirkpatrick added. “The Confederacy was wrong, and I think everybody is concerned about what we’re seeing play out in various rallies, especially after Charlottesville. Arizona had very little to do with the Civil War. It’s really inappropriate that we even have these Confederate war memorials.”
Kirkpatrick said it might also be time to take a look at removing the Pancho Villa statue in downtown Tucson, given his history of banditry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“That’s a valid criticism that we need to listen to and figure this out,” Kirkpatrick said. “And again, as far as I’m concerned, the people need to be heard on this, and we need to be able to find a solution.”
This article appears in Aug 24-30, 2017.
Im no fan of mcsally, but criticizing her just for waiting to give a response is absurd. No one is entitled to hear someone say something when they want to hear them say it
Whether they are immediate or belated, what most politicians do not understand about these racially-motivated events is they are NOT opportunities for more political rhetoric.
In addition, I am tired of elected representatives issuing statements via the digital graffiti medium of Twitter. They need to start making official statements in front of the media and the people again so that there is no doubt of where they stand.
As long as “We the People” allow our so-called representatives to behave and respond to us like trolls, we can expect to continue to receive trollish behavior from them.
While one would like to think that any decent citizen, including Martha McSally, would instantly speak out against the events in Charlottesville, one might also argue that McSally doesn’t have to be a pundit on every single issue. That is what she has contended in the past year, anyway. BUT…when her constituents ASK for a comment, then the clock starts ticking. She does, in fact, owe her constiuents a statement. That is her job. That is what she signed up for, as an elected representative. She was late in her statement and it took several days of relentless pressure by her constituents to get her to issue even the tepid response she gave. She has clearly been counseled to keep her mouth shut about everything, but we cannot let that stand.
“Let’s be clear: white supremacy or any form of racism, bigotry, violence or domestic terrorism has no place in America.”
~ Martha McSally
To me Rep. McSally’s delay in responding to Charlottesville is less important than the vapidity and emptiness of her response.
Her response is vapid because it states what any American of grade-school age or beyond should already have grasped. What part of “liberty and justice for all” is hard to understand?
And it’s empty because she’s taking no action. As a member of the Committee on Homeland Security, she could be supporting hearings on domestic terrorism. As a member of the House she could be supporting the resolution to censure the president.
Without actions, her words are mere words. If she truly believed that racism and bigotry have no place in America, she would be calling for impeaching the president. He’s shown that he embraces and embodies racism and bigotry. If they have no place in America, they surely have no place in the White House.
McSally was waiting to see what the general consensus was before she committed to supporting either side of the dispute. If the white supremacists were supported by most of Arizona , McSally would have been on that side. When you are just a shill for the Republican party you don’t have to be a real person with a soul who lashes out at inhumane behavior all you need to do is watch the way the wind blows and following it.
Kirkpatrick’s tepid and equivocal statement regarding Tucson’s hateful monument to Mexican terrorist Pancho Villa disqualifies her from high office (even if her carpet bagging didn’t). We need to “figure this out”? What’s there to figure out? What’s stopping her from unequivocally calling on the City of Tucson to remove the thing? Pancho Villa mass murdered American civilians both in Mexico and in Columbus, New Mexico. There are no sides here.
I agree with Steve Diamond. Her statement is appropriate for someone who is NOT in a position to actually do anything about the rise of Neo Nazi violence and a President who is supporting those groups. But McSally is in a position to do something about it. But as is her usual response, she is all talk and no action on issues of civil liberties that don’t involve taxation and gun rights.
If you need to take time to assess the public’s response before speaking out against Nazis and White Supremacists, then we need to find a better representative.
Contrary to this papers belief it was antifa fault at this rally they incited the violence on what would have been a peaceful march, just because she does not blame the white power people does not mean she supports them. So please quit this, your either with me or against me crap out, we are not in grade school.