re: Sad Day in Athens

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Last night when given the opportunity to respond to murder of Laken Riley, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link said the following at the Mayor & Commission meeting —

"I am as disgusted by the crime as I am the hysterical glee with which so many have seized upon this tragedy to promote division, bigotry, and hate. This tragedy offers yet another reminder that monsters are real and they come in all shapes and sizes. With terrifying regularity, they come in the form of white men with weapons of war fueled by mental illness, bigotry and right wing conspiracy theories who slaughter classrooms full of school children, congregants in churches, temples and mosques, hapless shoppers and revelers at concerts, nightclubs, festivals and parade routes. Mass murders have become so routine they are only met with thoughts and prayers from the cowardly Republican legislators, governors and judges who enable unfettered access to such weapons of war. And everyday, monsters come in the form of young men behind the wheel of big trucks and fast cars who ignore the rules of the road - endangering the public with impunity often walking away from fatal crashes with barely a slap on the wrist."

"We live in a violent patriarchal society in which even our own bodies are not our own - a society in which desperate mothers are sent home from emergency rooms to suffer unassisted miscarriages as they bleed out on their bathrooms floors and raped little girls are forced to give birth to their step daddies babies. In which at least two of our Supreme Court justices have been credibly accused of sexually assault and at least three were appointed by a traitorous, insurrectionist, bigoted, lying, cheating, fraudulent, philandering rapist. I call upon those who are so overcome by Laken Riley’s death to channel that outrage towards protecting the living."

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