FERNDALE, Wash. — Citing “racial threats, burning of yard signs and the conversations around the school levy,” Ferndale Mayor Greg Hanson and city staff produced a video yesterday from the steps of Ferndale City Hall expressing his upset and sadness about what he described as “the way our community has responded to some of these conflicts.”
Transcript:
Greetings,
I am Ferndale Mayor Greg Hansen. These are important, consequential and divisive times for our nation and our local community. Today, I’m upset and I’m saddened by the way our community has reacted to some of these conflicts with racial threats, burning of yard signs and the conversations around the school levy have been toxic and offensive at times. And as this election year heats up it will only get more intense and I believe that our democracy truly rests on our ability to communicate, negotiate and compromise, to listen, question consider and challenge each other.
Here in Ferndale, we have historically had a healthy balance between Liberals and Conservatives and, no matter where you fall politically, we can do better than this. We can be better neighbors. We play in the same parks. We walk along the same streets. Our kids go to the same schools. We are community and no matter what the debate, no matter how fierce the debate, we must always remember that we are a community of neighbors and that the ties that bind us together are stronger than our disagreements. So please, please be kind to each other. Be thoughtful. Be neighborly. This is what Ferndale does best.
Thank you.
