Reuters, Washington :
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a forceful condemnation of “bigotry in all its forms” on Friday and called for national reconciliation as he promised to work toward making the government more racially diverse.
His remarks, to State Department interns and fellows, dozens of whom were recruited through programs targeting minority candidates, followed the backlash from political and business leaders over President Donald Trump’s response to Saturday’s white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Tillerson invoked the 1865 second inaugural address by Abraham Lincoln, the president who freed the slaves and presided over the Civil War against rebellious pro-slavery Confederate Southern States.
As the war drew to a close, Lincoln asked the nation to bind up its wounds from the conflict, Tillerson noted.
“We, too, today should seek to bind up the wounds,” Tillerson said. “We must pursue reconciliation, understanding and respect regardless of skin colour, ethnicity or religious or political views.” Though Tillerson acknowledged First Amendment protections for free speech, he said those who embrace hate speech “poison our public discourse and they damage the very country that they claim to love.”
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a forceful condemnation of “bigotry in all its forms” on Friday and called for national reconciliation as he promised to work toward making the government more racially diverse.
His remarks, to State Department interns and fellows, dozens of whom were recruited through programs targeting minority candidates, followed the backlash from political and business leaders over President Donald Trump’s response to Saturday’s white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Tillerson invoked the 1865 second inaugural address by Abraham Lincoln, the president who freed the slaves and presided over the Civil War against rebellious pro-slavery Confederate Southern States.
As the war drew to a close, Lincoln asked the nation to bind up its wounds from the conflict, Tillerson noted.
“We, too, today should seek to bind up the wounds,” Tillerson said. “We must pursue reconciliation, understanding and respect regardless of skin colour, ethnicity or religious or political views.” Though Tillerson acknowledged First Amendment protections for free speech, he said those who embrace hate speech “poison our public discourse and they damage the very country that they claim to love.”
