ATAA’s Message on Recent Developments in the Nation - Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)

Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) condemns violence, and values dignity and equality of all human beings.

The question of why the American society is still divided along racial lines in the year 2020, when the United States is the most advanced nation in the world, requires deep soul-searching and root-cause analysis by the nation, our lawmakers, elected officials and the social leaders.

ATAA believes that a sincere attitude towards answering the above question will lead this nation to a better path and throw away all kinds of prejudices. With that said, ATAA remembers and honors the memories of Civil Rights Activists who sacrificed their lives during the Civil Rights Movement which was triggered by the lynching of a 14-year old African American youth named Emmett Till on August 28, 1955.

Names of activists who were murdered in the United States:

• George W. Lee (1955)
• Lamar Smith (1955)
• Dr. Thomas Hency Brewer, Sr. (1956)
• Herbert Lee (1961)
• William Lewis Moore (1963)
• Medgar Evers (1963)
• Louis Allen (1964)
• James E. Chaney (1964)
• Andrew Goodman (1964)
• Michael Scherwerner (1964)
• Malcom X (1965)
• James Reeb (1965)
• Viola Liuzzo (1965)
• Jonathan Myrick Daniels (1965)
• Sammy Younge Jr. (1966)
• Vernor Dahmer (1966)
• Robert W. Spike (1966)
• Wharlest Jackson (1967)
• Martin Luther King Jr. (1967)
• Fred Hampton (1969)