Lawmaker Advises 'Every White Person' on Charleston

Democrat Mike Johnston leaves note on church door
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2015 4:31 PM CDT
Lawmaker Can't Sleep, Leaves Note About Charleston
Colorado Democratic state Sens., left to right, Lucia Guzman, Morgan Carroll, Mike Johnston, and Irene Aguilar on May 6, 2015, at the Capitol in Denver.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A state senator in Colorado has responded to the Charleston church killings and says "every white person should do the same." On a sleepless night, Democrat Mike Johnston wrote a letter, drove to the nearby Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, and taped his note to the door:

  • "I refuse to let one deranged man speak for me," Johnston wrote. "I drove here to reaffirm the supremacy of love, and to stand with millions of other white men who are proud to call you brothers and sisters and who feel compelled now to right the wrongs of generations past."
  • "By Sunday morning America could blanket these churches with such overwhelming expressions of love that no one could walk through the doors of an AME church without feeling a flood of love and support from white men..."

Who would also be unable to sleep that night but the church's reverend, Timothy Tyler, who spotted the Facebook message and drove to work to read it. "Thought I was going to sleep until my state senator left this note on Facebook," he wrote on his Facebook page. "Still in tears. Thank you Senator." It also stirred up commentary on Twitter, where people posted messages like "thank you for the example. To St. Luke's AME in Nashville" and "A message of support for St Luke AME family in #Nola based on loving example of @MikeJohnstonCO," with the hashtag #onlylovecandothat. (This week, Jon Stewart echoed another commentator in calling the Charleston killings "a terrorist attack.")

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