MEDIA STATEMENT
Mayor Gavin Buckley
Public Information Office
160 Duke of Gloucester Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Mitchelle Stephenson, 410-972-7724 or mwstephenson@annapolis.gov
Mayor Buckley: Mob Violence in Washington is Inexcusable
“Just a week before the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I am reminded of Dr. King’s paraphrasing of the words of abolitionist Theodore Parker, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Today, the day after mob violence in Washington, DC was perpetrated against our most storied institutions, institutional norms, and the Constitutional duties of our elected leaders, it doesn’t feel that America is bending in the right direction. It is a profoundly sad day.
“As elected leaders at all levels of government, we take an oath to the Constitution of the United States. Leadership requires that we move our communities away from the divisive rhetoric that stoked armed thugs to insurrection.
“All through the night and morning, I received calls from overseas. The whole world is watching us right now and they are horrified. I assure them that we are horrified too.
“We must redouble efforts to restore the democratic norms that have guided our country for more than two centuries. These norms have been upended over the past four years.
“The mob violence perpetrated in Washington is inexcusable. Peaceable protest is the mechanism Americans have to redress their government for grievances. What happened yesterday was criminal. Every person who entered the United States Capitol, who trespassed, burglarized and vandalized the sacred halls of our democracy should be held to account. Every person who encouraged and incited those acts should also face consequences.
“America is a nation of laws. We all believe we are the greatest democracy in the world. It will take work to restore confidence that American leaders are worthy of leading the United States of America as an exercise in Democracy. Let’s work together to do just that.”
- Mayor Gavin Buckley
- Annapolis, January 7, 2021