Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Missouri Legislative Black Caucus

Members Members

Rep. Shamed Dogan-Vice Chair Rep. Courtney Curtis

Rep.Joe Adams
Rep. Bruce Franks-Secretary
Rep. Alan Gray
Rep. Steven Roberts, Jr.
Treasurer Rep. Clem Smith

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal Rep. Jay Mosley

Rep. Richard Brown
Sen. Shalonn Kiki Curls
Rep. Jerome Barnes
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed Rep. Tommie Pierson, Jr.
Rep. Gail McCann Beatty Rep. Michael Butler
MISSOURI LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUS
Rep. Cora Faith Walker
Rep. Karla May REP. ALAN K. GREEN
Rep. DaRon McGee
Rep. Brandon Ellington CHAIRMAN

Cheryl Dozier, Executive Director

August 31, 2017

The Honorable Todd Richardson

Missouri House of Representatives
201 West Capitol Avenue, Rm 308
Jefferson City, MO 65101

Dear Speaker Richardson,

I request our honorable body consider the censure and removal of State Representative Warren
Love and that you refer this matter for investigation to the Committee on Ethics which is charged
with looking into matters of misconduct, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office or other
complaints relating to the ethical conduct of a member.

After paint was thrown on a Confederate statue, Representative Love posted on social media that
he hoped the perpetrators were found & hung from a tall tree with a long rope. Lynch mobs
and strange fruit are a real and painful part of Missouris history. Lynchings were used in
Missouri as a tool of terror to kill and intimidate African-Americans into silence. For an elected
official to condone or incite this type of vigilantism is un-American, repulsive and unbecoming
of a member of Missouris House of Representatives.

This is another example of Representative Loves intolerant views, he has called President
Abraham Lincoln the greatest tyrant in American history and has referred to members of my
community as the black Negro. Left unchecked, he has been emboldened to call for
vigilantism and violence. Representative Loves sentiments are a prime example of why
Missouri was issued the NAACPs first and only travel advisory.
The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus immediately condemned Senator Maria Chappelle-
Nadals statements for violence against President Trump, both Republican and Democratic
elected officials across the state called for her resignation. In a bi-partisan effort, Senator Nadal
was immediately removed from all of her committees. Both parties understood calls for violence
as unconscionable.

We hope and expect Representative Love to be held equally accountable. Ive spoken to
Representative Love about his passion for history, but as an elected official his statement cannot
be justified. It is tragic that this needs to be said, for an elected official to hope for a
lynching as retribution for vandalizing a Confederate statue is wrong. Representative Love
must resign, even if he did not contemplate acting on his own words, those words can inspire,
and similar words have inspired, African-Americans to be lynched in the state of Missouri.

Respectfully submitted,

Alan Green
Chairman, Missouri Legislative Black Caucus