[Archived] Human Rights Commission Issues Statement

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact, Jean Niebauer, Director
October 23, 2001 Alexandria Office of Human Rights, 703.838.6390

SENSE OF THE COMMISSION STATEMENT
ALEXANDRIA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

The following statement was written by Dr. Jim McClellan, Commissioner, and adopted by the Alexandria Human Rights Commission on October 16, 2001.

The dangers we face as a consequence of the attacks of September 11th go beyond any potential actions of our enemies.

In those moments of the American past when our forebears felt threatened, they were too often willing to set aside the safeguards of freedom in their search for security. But in every case, from the Alien and Sedition Acts of the Quasi-War of 1798 through the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the Sedition and Espionage Acts of 1918, Japanese-American Internment during World War II, the McCarthy-style persecutions of the Cold War, to the attempts to silence the critics of the War in Indochina, all such actions were subsequently regretted. To paraphrase a political prisoner of the World War I era, it is often dangerous to exercise the right of free speech in a nation fighting to make the world safe for democracy.

In our fears stemming from the events of September, we have again turned from the fundamental values of our nation in hopes of finding some temporary security.

No one in our city, or in our nation, should experience harassment or intimidation for reasons related to ethnicity, religion, or race. No business should be shunned simply for the race, religion, ethnicity of its owner or staff.

No one in our city, or in our nation, should be confined except through due process of law.

Newspapers and the broadcasters of news in our community and in our nation should be able to provide all the news and all viewpoints free from government intimidation. No one detained or arrested in our community or in our nation should be surrendered to the authorities of a foreign power without due process of law, and no one in custody in this country should be surrendered to the officials of another nation when there is reason to believe that the prisoner will suffer torture. We should not consider millions of people our enemy because of the crime of a few. If in order to secure liberty abroad we sacrifice it at home, our victory will be hollow and we will resemble more closely those we oppose than the values we profess.

It is better that future generations respect us not only for our resolve in defending our lives and property in a time of great stress but also for our unwavering loyalty to our high ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as we did so.