Ex-governor takes up fight against hate
Schwarzenegger donates $100,000 to L.A. group after violence in Virginia.
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday donated $100,000 to help a Los Angeles-based group’s effort to fight hate, saying he was “horrified” by anti-Semitic and racist protests in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.
“While these so-called ‘white nationalists’ are lucky to live in a country that defends their right to voice their awful, incorrect, hateful opinions, the rest of us must use our voices and resources to condemn hate and teach tolerance at every opportunity,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “My message to them is simple: you will not win. Our voices are louder and stronger.”
Schwarzenegger announced the donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center as President Trump was under fire for failing to quickly speak out against the racist and anti-Semitic protests that resulted in three deaths.
After two days of bipartisan criticism, Trump on Monday delivered a new statement that explicitly condemned white supremacists, Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members for the violence that shook the sleepy Virginia college town over the weekend.
Schwarzenegger and Trump have a long-simmering feud, but the former governor did not mention the president in his statement.
He also urged others to donate to anti-hate groups.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center, said Schwarzenegger had been a supporter of the organization for more than 30 years.
“We’ve never been prouder of his leadership than when we saw his tweet last night challenging everyone to do more in the fight against hate,” Hier said.
‘My message to [the white nationalists] is simple: you will not win. Our voices are louder and stronger.’ —Arnold Schwarzenegger, former California governor, wrote on Facebook