Good afternoon, 

Today, at ProgressNow Colorado, we rise in solidarity with the Black community.  We condemn the violent and dangerous white supremacist ideology that motivated the attack in Buffalo, New York and mourn the passing of the ten lives taken:

• Retired Police Officer Aaron Salter, 55
• Ruth Whitfield, 86
• Pearly Young, 77
• Katherine Massey, 72
• Deacon Heyward Patterson, 67
• Celestine Chaney, 65
• Roberta Drury, 32
• Margus Morrison, 52
• Andre Mackneil, 53
• Geraldine Talley, 62

Sadly, our hearts are also with the victims of mass shootings in Laguna Woods, CA, Milwaukee, WI, and Dallas and Houston, TX whose families are grieving their loss. 

For those that survived these attacks, Coloradans know all too well that they will suffer continued trauma. We stand with them on their journey through recovery. 

These grandmothers and grandfathers, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, friends and community members will never come home after a simple trip to the grocery store. This was the work of a violent white supremacist, spurred on by the increasingly normalized hate rhetoric barging into the national discourse.  

In the days to come, we will have time to talk about the danger domestic terrorism and violent white supremacy poses to the very fiber of our fragile democracy.  News outlets will once again ring the alarm that the greatest threat many Americans face are their own neighbors. Some officials, online communities and reporters may even abdicate responsibility for inspiring this tyrannical behavior with falsehoods and incendiary rhetoric. 

But today, we take a moment to remember the souls senselessly lost this weekend. 

In community, 

Sara Loflin, Executive Director