This article was originally published in The Examiner on August 17, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Several local groups gathered in the summer twilight outside Orange City Hall on
Sunday, Aug. 13.
Shelby Smith, who kickstarted the Golden Triangle Indivisible group with the Women’s March back in January, explained that the candlelight service commemorated “those who have died at the hands of racism” and also demanded justice for victims of hate after the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, where counterprotesters clashed with white nationalists and other right-wing groups Saturday, Aug. 12.
“I love this area, born and raised here, and I know that this community is a great community,” Marsi Patronella-Ackerman said to the small crowd who gathered in Orange, faces only visible by candles in the gathering dusk.
Some held signs with statements like “Hate has no home here” and “You will not tear my country apart.”
“We’re not going to let this be in our community,” Patronella-Ackerman said. “If there are people that want to spew hate and bigotry, then they are going to be met with love and compassion, and we will win in the long run.”
PFLAG Beaumont, the Beaumont Humanist Society, Golden Triangle Indivisible, and the Orange County Atheists of Texas all helped to organize the vigil, Patronella- Ackerman explained.
She read a statement from Louis Ackerman, the president of Southeast Texas Progressives, who is from Virginia.
“As a human being, I am appalled by the abhorrent actions of these individuals,”
Ackerman wrote. “Today we are falling back to times when ignorance ruled the day.”
“The actions of these white nationalists, who are from all over the country, are
despicable,” his statement continued. “Anything less than the outright condemnation of their actions is a failure of justice and morality.”
Patronella-Ackerman finished her speech by reminding those gathered to be “louder than the hate.”
Golden Triangle Indivisible’s social media director Kelli Patin said chapters of Indivisible nationwide organized over 680 protests in the previous 24 hours.
“We’re not OK with the hate and we’re not okay with racism and bigotry,” she said.
Beaumont Humanist Society president Elroy Rigsby-Leday’s speech was short but
direct: “I think that the fight for bigotry starts here in the South and we need to stand
vigilant.”
“We stand in solidarity with Charlottesville,” Orange County Atheists of Texas spokesperson Clara Gilley said. “There is no place and time for any of that, here in
Orange especially. Taking a back seat is not an option anymore.”
PFLAG Beaumont’s Educational Director Payshunz Nagashima emphasized a need
for unity, even in the face of tragedy.
“All marginalized communities are under attack and we are coming together,” Nagashima said. “Now is our time. When we are unified, hopefully people will finally hear our voice.”
Nagashima talked about the importance of voting and participating in conversations with neighbors and coworkers “so that things like this won’t happen again.”
Michael Cole, Southeast Texas Progressive’s political director, closed the evening with a challenge.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of holding vigils like this. I’m tired of Sandy Hook, I’m tired of Orlando, I’m tired of Paris, I’m tired of everywhere that we have been told that we have to cower in fear because those who hate our unity attack us,” he said.
“This night in Orange, Texas, we have shown them that we are not afraid. We have shown them that we will no longer cower in the darkness while they protect and continue their hate.”
“We will not back down,” he added just before a moment of silence. “We will fight tyranny, we will fight fascism, we will fight evil wherever it is.
“It is their turn to be afraid.”
Eleanor Skelton 