The News Leader published my letter to the editor today. In case the link eventually disappears behind their pay wall, here is the letter in full:

Mayor Oakes’ statement excusing the rioters was shameful: Letter

Mayor Andrea Oakes’ statement at the recent City Council meeting concerning the D.C. insurrection was shameful and appalling. It has no place in the City of Staunton, let alone on its council.

Rather than denounce the rioters and murderers as she should have, Mayor Oakes excused them. She said, “Riots are the language of the unheard,” and then she went further by equating the insurrection to the Portland riots.

For your information, Mayor Oakes, the invaders of the U.S. Capitol who bludgeoned a police officer to death with a fire extinguisher were never “unheard.” The country has been listening to their garbage all year. They further had a voice through their votes and then through their dozens of spurious lawsuits to overturn the election. They still lost, but that’s the nature of democracy. That they then attacked the U.S. Senate and the vice president is their crime, not ours to justify.

You would do well to digest Gov. Northam’s recent State of the Commonwealth Address when he said, “I say to every elected official in Virginia: You can be part of our democratic institutions, or you can use falsehoods to try to destroy them. But you can’t do both.”

What is your choice, Mayor?

MATTHEW WARNER
Staunton