Los Angeles – Arnold Schwarzenegger has donated $100,000 to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which combats anti-Semitism and bigotry, in the wake of the far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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The actor and former California governor announced the donation Sunday on Facebook, where he wrote that he was “horrified” by the previous day’s rally bringing together neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other far-right activists. The rally featured racist and anti-Semitic slogans, and a car-ramming attack by a participant killed a counterprotester and injured at least 19 people. Two police officers monitoring the rally also died when their helicopter crashed.
“I have been horrified by the images of Nazis and white supremacists marching in Charlottesville and I was heartbroken that a domestic terrorist took an innocent life,” Schwarzenegger wrote. “My message to them is simple: you will not win. Our voices are louder and stronger. There is no white America — there is only the United States of America.”
Schwarzenegger, also a former bodybuilder, said he has worked with the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center for decades, and admires “the Center’s mission of expanding tolerance through education and fighting hate all over America — in the streets and online.”
A breath of fresh air,
Good guy.
What a guy! I don’t think I ever “liked” the guy before. What I mean is that while I know that he has been a ‘celebrity’ for many years, I have never had enough of an interest in anything about him to be worth having an opinion. Here, he issued an excellent statement, and backed it up with action.
On the other hand, I’m not a fan of the Simon Weisenthal center, so I would have preferred he give the money to some other relevant cause, but that’s another issue.
Also, a direct message to Mr. Schwarzenegger and other celebrities (who of course all read VIN): The money is nice, but don’t feel that it’s necessary or even primary. The statement and the follow-up actions are the primary.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center should apologize to Arnold for the way it treated him, when he ran for Governor.
yes and human decency
To #7 - When Arnold ran for Governor, the Simon Wiesenthal stated that he should withdraw from the race, because it was brought out that his Father belonged to the Nazi party. However, they should not have smeared Arnold with the same brush, as he has been very supportive of Jewish causes for decades. I remember seeing a tape of him dancing with Chabad Lubavitvch Rabbis at the Statehouse on Chanukah. To this day, the Simon Wiesenthal Center never admitted that it made a mistake, regarding the above. This is not Loshon Hora, but facts. As Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet used to state “Just give me the facts”.
He cheated on his wife. He gropes women. I got no time for him.