Black Chamber of Arizona member: America has long way to go on racism

PHOENIX — The violence in Charlottesville has brought the national conversation back around to race.

“I think what you’re seeing is just the continuation of a race relations issue that we have in this country that’s been going on for many, many, many years,” said Karl Gentles, Black Chamber of Arizona board member.

“The groups that were [in Charlottesville] have found a new resurgence of their efforts in these current times to try and apply their views on the world,” he said.

In response to the violence in Virginia, the president condemned the actions of “both sides,” then days later condemned the KKK, white nationalists and other hate groups by name. He then went to make another round of comments on Tuesday.

As a partner at Goode Wright Gentles, a valley public relations and branding firm, Gentles said as a person who deals with communications every day, the president’s first response said it all.

“What we know is he is a very clear communicator,” he said. “From my perspective as a communication professional, the communication right up front tells you just about everything that people want you to know when they communicate.”

The president made some comments days later, but Gentles said he’d hoped Trump would have come out stronger.

“I would have expected that the president would have spoken as clearly on this issue as he has on other issues, and calling what he sees its name,” he said.

This week has certainly shown that the country needs a lot of dialogue, reconciliation and understanding between parties to understand what the issues are and find a pathway forward that can prevent these acts of violence going forward.

“Look it starts from the very top of the US government, all the way down to the people sitting around dinner tables every night and talking about these issues,” Gentles said. “Finding a way that people can reconcile their personal beliefs and issues without resulting to violence.

“And I think while we’ve come a long way, this week certainly shows that we have a long way to go.”

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