I have written a statement for a Huntington Beach resident

If you're attending Tuesday night's City Council meeting ...

There is a Huntington Beach City Council meeting Tuesday night. It will be held in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, as well as some recent neo-Nazi gatherings in town. I have written this for any attendee who is looking for something to say …

Dear City Council members … although I found much of what Charlie Kirk stood for to be vile and disturbing (I mean, we’re talking about a man who compared pandemic vaccine requirements to apartheid and said, and I quote, “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act”), I know you are mourning his loss, and I respect that. Like you, I am horrified by his murder. I want to make that clear, as a liberal and behalf of every liberal I know—I am HORRIFIED by his murder.

But what also horrifies me—horrifies us—is a City Council that refuses, yet again, to specifically condemn neo-Nazi activity in OUR city. You seven all know what I’m referring to: The past few days of White Power rallies, of physical violence. It’s been all over social media. And I ask, having scanned all of your Instagram and Facebook and Twitter outposts: Where is your opposition? Where are your voices? You are our City Council members. You are our voice. So why, oh why, the individual silence? Are you OK with neo-Nazis? Are you comfortable with White Power statements? You, Gracie—a woman who once created a YouTube playlist titled “Holocaust hoax?” that featured videos questioning the Shoah. You, Chad, who recently reposted an ugly us v. them screed against liberals. You, Pat, a former cop and our mayor, issued one of the weakest statements I have ever seen. Can you not utter the phrase “neo-Nazi”? Or are you guys afraid, if you specifically call out the white power movement, you will lose a key constituency?

I am begging you, our council … representatives of the entire city … to finally stand up for all of us. With each day, we are more and more of a joke. The Kentucky of California. The neo-Nazi base by the beach. Is that what y’all want? Is that what you’re after.

Please, for the love of God and Huntington Beach, use this moment in history to cease defending racism.

And to start standing up against it.

Thank you.