Mother of Portland Victim Pleads With Trump to Take Action
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The mother of man fatally stabbed by an alleged white supremacist in Portland last week sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking his administration to condemn violence and hate speech.
Asha Deliverance's 23-year-old son Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche suffered fatal stab-wounds at the hands of 35-year-old Jeremy Christian, who witnesses say was screaming racist abuse at a Muslim train passenger. Christian also has apparent ties to white supremacist movements in the United States.
Namaki Meche and another man, 53-year-old Rick Best, were both killed when they attempted to intervene. A third man, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, suffered serious injuries in the attack, and is recovering in the hospital.
Deliverance's letter asks Donald Trump to "encourage all Americans to protect and watch out for one another" and for him to "condemn any acts of violence, which result directly from hate speech & hate groups."
"You have said that you will be President for all Americans. So, I ask you Mr. President to take action at this time. Your words and actions are meaningful, here in America and throughout the world."
President Trump put out a message via Twitter on Monday condemning the attack.
Noting that Trump's tweet came from his less-frequently used @POTUS account, while he used his primary account to tweet about the media's spread of "fake news," Bustle's Lani Seelinger described Trump's response as inadequate.
"Responding to this vicious attack in which two brave Americans lost their lives was evidently not so important to Donald J. Trump. Not as important as reacting to the fake news, anyway," Seelinger wrote. "Not important enough to show up on his personal Twitter account, and not important enough to respond in real time. He hasn't made a speech condemning it, and the White House still hasn't made an official statement."
The mayor of Portland is now calling for two political rallies, which he has described as being arranged by the white nationalist "alt-right," to be canceled. The mayor is concerned that more violence could occur. The two rallies he pointed to are on federal land, so the city can't revoke permits, which is why he's asking the federal government to do it.
"Our City is in mourning, our community’s anger is real, and the timing and subject of these events can only exacerbate an already difficult situation," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler wrote on Facebook on Monday.
Trump has yet to address the Portland attack again since from his tweet on Monday.
