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Toledo NAACP leader says more needs to be done to stop hate in country

"I believe the March to Washington, the anniversary, was an opportunity to highlight the fact that our country needs to unite again."

TOLEDO, Ohio — While the most recent federal data shows hate crime statistics dropping, they're still happening by the thousands across the country. 

With racially-motivated mass shooting in Jacksonville happening on the same day as the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington's where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, WTOL 11 spoke with Willie Perryman, president of the Toledo chapter of the NAACP to get his perspective.  

He said our national leaders share in the responsibility of lingering hatred in the country.

"When you produce and when you attempt to put on the agenda a level of divisiveness, a level of separation, around education, around crime, around human rights; these types of things are the results of divisiveness coming from our national leaders," said Perryman.

The National Body of the NAACP and the Ohio conference were in Washington D.C. over the weekend for the 60th anniversary on the March on Washington.

"If there ever was a time, we need to unite again I believe the march to Washington, the anniversary, was an opportunity to highlight the fact that our country needs to unite again," said Perryman.

He says as a community we can all honor Dr. King's message and combat violence right here in Northwest Ohio. 

"The main thing we can do here in Toledo and Lucas County is that we have to be a welcoming community. We have to be able to welcome other neighbors from neighboring communities. We have to be welcoming to other nationalities. We have to be welcoming to all facests of life to other people who do not look like us, who do not act like us," said Perryman. "I believe we are a welcoming community. I think our community will be a safer community."

RELATED: 'It was a wake-up call' | Civil rights activist revisits DC 60 years after the March on Washington

RELATED: Biden and Harris will meet with the King family on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington

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