Your March 22 Free Press editorial, “Thanks for the, uh, apology,” (page B7) which calls for the chairwoman of the Tennessee Democratic Party to resign is hypocritical. She did apologize for remarks she made about racists in Tennessee, but there are elements of truth in what she said.
Tennessee by state ranks 7th with the highest per capita number of active hate groups. Thirty-six groups have affiliations with the KKK, neo-Nazis, white nationalists,racist skinheads, Christian identity, neo-Confederates, black nationalists, anti-Muslims and general hate.
Ninety-two of 95 Tennessee counties gave the majority of their votes to Trump in 2016. Were those voters naïve, or did they believe Trump truly represents their values? Marsha Blackburn was elected to the Senate by those same voters on her promise to support Mr. Trump and his agenda.
We have seen the backing that many in those groups give to President Trump, who has done nothing to discourage their hateful actions or messages. In fact, many accuse Trump of actually encouraging those groups with his rhetoric and yet we hear no plea from you for Trump to resign.
I submit that our state has a long way to go to eliminate racism and hatred.