LMSD Board Denounces Commissioner's Black Lives Matter Comments

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — Backlash over Montgomery County Commissioner Joseph Gale's comments about the Black Lives Matter movement continues with the Lower Merion School District denouncing the commissioner's comments.

The district school board said in a statement Monday that Gale's comments, which called the movement a "domestic terrorist" group, that they "unequivocally condemn" the comments.

"Mr. Gale’s statements are ugly, divisive and exactly the wrong message for our elected officials to be sending at this time," the board said in a statement. "We support the vote to censure him by the other county commissioners.

The Lower Merion School District Board is just one of several groups to call Gale out on his comments.

A protest was held last week outside the Montgomery County Courthouse calling for his resignation.

Additionally, a petition calling for Gale's resignation has reached more than 85,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Mayors in Royersford, Conshohocken, Narberth, Hatboro, Pottstown, Lansdale, Ambler, West Conshohocken, and Collegeville signed a statement condemning Gale's letter.

Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh also condemned Gale's words

"I kneel with every person who protests the loss of Mr. Floyd's life and each life before his," she said. "We must join together to denounce those whose hateful, racist rhetoric seeks to divide us. Today, I denounce the words of Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale. I believe we must treat each other with human decency, respect, and kindness. Progress comes when we listen to and learn from each other, lift each other up, and move forward together in our shared humanity."

The Norristown Municipal Council echoed these statements.

"(The statement) was not issued on behalf of the Municipality of Norristown...the views in his statement are in no way a reflection of, or related to, the Municipality of Norristown."

Later, the Council called for Gale's resignation in much stronger tones.

"Your further declaration that protests have 'enabled a level of unfettered criminality never witnessed before in American history' casually dismisses 246 years of slavery in the United States and generations of continued systematic racism and oppression."

With reporting by Justin Heinze