--- title: Betsy DeVos Condemns White Supremacists in Charlottesville description: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos condemned the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., as "cowardly, hateful and just plain wrong" canonical: https://time.com/4906083/betsy-devos-charlottesville-white-supremacy/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-18T01:06:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:03:33.184Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Just Plain Wrong.' Betsy DeVos Condemns White Supremacists After Charlottesville og:description: "Such views are cowardly, hateful and just plain wrong" og:url: https://time.com/4906083/betsy-devos-charlottesville-white-supremacy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75b4d887204c2728/6988da37ab6d7709f26af736/betsy-devos-charlottesville.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies To Senate Hearing On Budget Of Department og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Just Plain Wrong.' Betsy DeVos Condemns White Supremacists After Charlottesville twitter:description: "Such views are cowardly, hateful and just plain wrong" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75b4d887204c2728/6988da37ab6d7709f26af736/betsy-devos-charlottesville.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Just Plain Wrong.' Betsy DeVos Condemns White Supremacists After Charlottesville  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 18, 2017 1:06 AM UTC  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on June 6, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on June 6, 2017 in Washington, D.C.Win McNamee/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 18, 2017 1:06 AM UTC Education Secretary [Betsy DeVos](http://time.com/4893923/education-secretary-betsy-devos-racism/) on Thursday condemned the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., as “cowardly, hateful and just plain wrong” after President Donald Trump said [“both sides” were to blame](http://time.com/4902144/donald-trump-charlottesville-blame-both-sides-kkk-nazi/) for the violence. “There is fear, pain, anger, disappointment, discouragement and embarrassment across America, and I know, too, here within the Department,” DeVos wrote in the [memo](http://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015d-f1da-d354-abfd-f1fa062d0000), which was [published by Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/17/betsy-devos-white-nationalist-views-abhorrent-241752). “Last weekend’s tragic and unthinkable events in Charlottesville, which stole three innocent lives and injured many more, were wholly unacceptable. The views of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other racist bigots are totally abhorrent to the American ideal. We all have a role to play in rejecting views that pit one group of people against another. Such views are cowardly, hateful and just plain wrong.” She criticized “hate-filled conversations” that have “reopened hurtful wounds from shameful portions of our nation’s past.” DeVos did not mention Trump, who this week defended some of the participants in the white supremacist rally and said “both sides” were responsible for violence that left one counter-protester dead. On Thursday, Trump [said it was “sad”](http://time.com/4904510/donald-trump-twitter-confederate-statues/) to see [the removal](http://time.com/4901801/charlottesville-protests-confederate-statue-removal-accelerated/) of “our beautiful” Confederate statues and monuments in the wake of the Charlottesville clashes. Before Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, [torch-carrying white supremacists](http://time.com/4898089/uva-white-nationalist-rally-virginia/) marched through the University of Virginia campus. Since then, [Texas A&M University](http://time.com/4900741/white-nationalist-rally-texas-am-cancelled-richard-spencer/) decided to cancel a white nationalist rally scheduled to take place on campus next month. And the [University of Florida](http://time.com/4902729/richard-spencer-university-of-florida/) denied a request by white supremacist Richard Spencer to speak on campus. “Our own difficult history reminds us that we must confront, head-on, problems when and where they exist with moral clarity and conviction,” DeVos said in the memo. “Our nation is greater than what it has shown in recent days.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4906083/betsy-devos-charlottesville-white-supremacy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4906083/betsy-devos-charlottesville-white-supremacy/"},"headline":"'Just Plain Wrong.' 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