A Proclamation of UN-WELCOME
City of Albuquerque
Executive Order
WHEREAS, Albuquerque's unique history has truly made it a
"crossroads of cultures", where we, along with our fellow New Mexicans, prize
the civic virtues of tolerance, justice and fair play -- for ours is a multi-cultural
community that continually celebrates the vast richness embodied in the diversity of our
peoples, their traditions and religious faiths, and;
WHEREAS, a group -- America's Promise Ministries -- is coming
to our beloved Land of Enchantment with the expressed purpose of preaching doctrines of
intolerance, bigotry and hate -- all in the hope of recruiting new followers to their
"movement," and;
WHEREAS, this so-called "ministry" poisons the
Internet with materials proclaiming that, except for white Anglo-Saxons of northern
European heritage, all of the rest of the world's races are to be regarded as lesser
beings, that Jews are descendants of Satan, and that the Holocaust never happened, and;
WHEREAS, their upcoming gathering features merchants of hate
who espouse terrorism and warfare between races, and;
WHEREAS, while we Albuquerqueans champion the sacred right of
every American to practice his or her First Amendment freedom of speech, we deplore the
actions of those who use this very freedom to foster doctrines of hate, violence and white
supremacy, and;
WHEREAS, we remember the uplifting words of the late Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who taught:
"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by
drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."
NOW, THEREFORE, I Martin J. Chavez, Mayor of the City of
Albuquerque, on this the sixth day of August, 1997, do hereby proclaim this group and its
doctrines to be un-welcome in our community and, although they certainly will be accorded
the common human decencies which they would deny to a majority of New Mexicans, we hope
they might learn something from us about peace, brotherhood and racial harmony during
their otherwise unfortunate visit to our state.
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