Letters To the Editor

Standing Up to Hate

I want to thank everyone in our community who helped to stand against the hate being perpetrated by Greg Letiecq's Black Velvet Bruce Li blog.

I consider Mr. Letiecq a dangerous man and his blog and extremist nativist organization (according to the Southern Poverty Law Center) a serious threat to our community.

First, he creates his hate-filled blog. Then he goes on to assassinate the character of some members of our community. Then he helps create an extremist nativist organization and becomes its president. Then he links up with the Immigration Reform Law Institute and asks Michael Hethmon (who worked for many years as a staff lawyer for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a hate group, according to the SPLC) to write the first draft of Prince William County's anti-illegal immigration resolution. Then he asks Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville) to sponsor the resolution, which he gladly does.

Mr. Letiecq has been the catalyst and perpetrator of this hateful and costly behavior from the beginning, and he enjoys bragging about much of this in his recent Front Line newsletter.

A few years ago, Prince William passed a resolution declaring it to be a hate-free zone. I endorse our supervisors for having the courage to stand against the hate being perpetrated in the Black Velvet Bruce Li blog.

Two weeks ago, supervisors voted to change the anti-illegal immigrant resolution. It was an important vote that opened the door for healing to begin in our community. Since then, at least one supervisor has received serious threats as a result of the changes to the resolution. Intimidation and hate are powerful forces that can be used to shape public policy if we stand by and let it happen.

I applaud our supervisors and county government officials for their courage to stand against this ugly behavior. I challenge other members of our community to do the same, especially our houses of worship and business community.

Gregg Reynolds

Woodbridge