Leonardtown, MD – The St. Mary’s County Commissioners addressed recent hate activities by members of the Ku Klux Klan during their Commissioners of St. Mary’s County Business Meeting on Tuesday November 13, 2018. There were several reports exclaiming Ku Klux Klan recruiting attempts such as: fliers and leaflets found outside of St. Mary’s County Neighborhoods.
The Ku Klux Klan recruiting materials have also been reported in Waldorf, La Plata, Calvert, Anne Arundel, North Virginia and Western Maryland. Commissioner Todd B Morgan (4th District) and John E’ O’Connor (3rd District) state there is no room in St. Mary’s County for hate.
“I am quite concerned about some of the literature that is being passed out in the county over the last few days, which instigates hate, and those are the brochures attempting to recruit people to join Ku Klux Klan,” said Commissioner Todd B Morgan (4th District). “There is no room in St. Mary’s County for that and I think my fellow board members would agree. We live in a civil society. The discourse that was brought forth in the election, we tried to say ratchet down some. We know that there is a lot of angst at the national level, but hate is not going to be tolerated in St. Mary’s County. If you want to hate, we can welcome you to leave.”
“I do not condone any type of promoting hate regardless of the group that it is coming from. Whether it is hate because of race, the uniform you wear, the morals or values that you stand for; whether you are fire and rescue, police, Black, White, Asian – it does not matter, there is no place for that in our county, state, and our country,” said Commissioner John E. O’Connor (3rd District). “A lot of people need to realize that diversity goes deeper than the color of your skin and that we as a people need to look beyond that. Once we do we will actually start moving forward. When we have people going out and spreading hate and discontent that is something we need to come together as a community and stop. I am very grateful that the community is stepping in, contacting our sheriff’s department and making it known. I hope that we as a community look at this together and denounce it the same way, and that we continue helping one another. I think that is what St. Mary’s County is really good at.”