(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – A number of representatives from the area’s Labor Movement joined with an array of Government, Clergy and Community Leaders Wednesday (August 16th) to participate in a prayer vigil that was held in response to this past weekend’s hateful violence in Charlottesville, Virginia,

One of those leaders addressing the crowd was Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) President Richard Lipsitz (Pictured Above/Photo Courtesy of Buffalo AFL-CIO President John Mudie Via The Social Network Facebook), who said: “The Neo-Fascist demonstrations in support of racism and Anti-Semitism ‘is not a distraction’ from the social program of Donald Trump - ‘It is the program of Donald Trump.’”

The event was described as a call to action for all sectors of the Buffalo Community to uniformly denounce violent racism and bigotry, where all – in one voice – proudly gathered together to tell those who wish to spread hate and violence: “not here, not ever.”

The Buffalo event also recognized and honored the two State Troopers who lost their lives over the weekend, as well as Health Heyer, the Charlottesville Para-Legal who died after being struck by an Ohio man driving a vehicle, who had made the trip to Virginia to participate with the Alt-Right in the hate rally.

Said Lipsitz:

On behalf of the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation, let me express our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the struggle to defend Democratic Rights in this country.

This includes Heather Heyer - killed directly by a Fascist activist and the two State Troopers who would never have been in that helicopter if not for the nefarious activities of the Neo-Fascists, open Nazis and the KKK in Charlottesville this past Friday night and Saturday.

The reaction of Donald Trump to these acts of violence was not a mistake and it is not surprising.

Donald Trump is not a tool of David Duke and Richard Spencer, he is their leader.

The Neo-Fascist demonstrations in support of racism and anti-Semitism is not a distraction from the social program of Donald Trump - it is the program of Donald Trump.

Trump’s agenda is one of fascism, hunger and war.

Michelle Obama said it best: “The presidency doesn’t change a person - it reveals a person.”

This is the Donald Trump who descended the escalator in June of 2015, denouncing Mexicans.

This is the Donald Trump who pretended he didn’t know David Duke.

And this is the Donald Trump, who used the Nazi analogy that the Star of David is a symbol of unbridled greed.

This is the same Donald Trump who brought Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller into the closest strategic circles of White House policy-making.

These three individuals make up the ideological backbone of Neo-Fascism in our country.

The deaths of those martyred in Charlottesville is the logical outcome of the path that Donald Trump began two years ago.

Their blood is on his hands.

In July of this year, Trump visited Poland and made a speech in Warsaw where he lauded the resistance of the Polish people to the Nazis in the famous uprising in the May of 1944.

Absent from his remarks was any mention of the even more remarkable Warsaw Ghetto uprising in the spring of 1943, where the Jewish partisans fought a desperate struggle against the Nazis, an omission that was not a mistake.

I mention this not only to remind us of the glorious history of resistance to Fascism in World War Two, but to draw the following conclusion: There are only two paths for dealing with bully - acceptance and active resistance.

Our Labor Movement is in favor of active resistance.

Earlier in the week, the WNYALF President released the following statement to the Western New York Labor Movement:

Brothers and Sisters,

The ugly face of American Neo-Fascism is escalating its campaign against all that is decent and progressive in our society.

Their brutal ideology is now responsible for murder in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump and his gang have created the conditions for this latest outrage.

We must denounce it in the most clearest of terms possible.

Let us unite both in mourning for those who have given their lives and in active resistance to the program of Donald Trump.

Let us work together with thought and purpose to stop his agenda and to drive him where he belongs: into the trash can of history.