North Carolina Democrats kept their focus – and their blame – on violent white supremacists and white nationalists Tuesday, even after a group of protesters destroyed a Confederate soldier statue in Durham on Monday evening.
“The continued display of racial hatred by white nationalist organizations is damaging to families and communities all across America. What we saw in Durham (Tuesday) night is an outgrowth of the actions by white nationalists,” said Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat whose 1st Congressional District includes Durham County.
White nationalists and neo-Nazis staged a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday to protect a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The demonstration – one day after similar crowds gathered with tiki torches and made Nazi salutes – turned deadly when a man drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring more than a dozen others.
There were other beatings and fights during the protests, including the beating of a black man by several white men in a parking garage that was caught on video.
“If the KKK and the neo-Nazis continue to commit crimes against other Americans, we’re going to continue to see a response by people of good will,” Butterfield said. “... It may be to the boiling point. The American people must very quickly figure this out and understand we’re a land of the free and that all people are equal in our society.”
Butterfield called for Congress to pass a resolution when it returns from August recess. He wants it to denounce white supremacists in simple, clear language.
“We will not tolerate white supremacist organizations in America inflicting violence on American communities,” Butterfield said.
Gov. Roy Cooper, a first-term Democrat, pointed to the violence in Charlottesville in a gentle rebuke Monday night to the protesters who tore down the statue in Durham.