[1]John Fetterman



John,

Last month, Tucker Carlson went on a nearly 20-minute-long rant about me.
The whole thing was as unhinged as you’d expect, but one line that stood
out was about my tattoos. 

“All your stupid little fake tattoos,” he said, calling them a “costume.” 

[ [link removed] ]In a moment, I’m going to ask you to chip in $5 or more
to my grassroots campaign. But first, let’s talk about those tattoos
Tucker seems to be so interested in.

[ [link removed] ]Add A Donation Now »

I have nine dates tattooed on my right forearm. Each one is a day on which
someone died violently in Braddock, Pennsylvania, while I was mayor. Gun
violence and violent crime might be jokes to someone like Tucker, but they
are very real to people in towns like Braddock.

The first one that I tattooed on my arm is “01.16.06.” That’s the date on
which Christopher Williams was shot dead while delivering pizzas. This was
a man about my age at the time. He had a 12-year-old daughter. I just
couldn’t get over the fact that he was never going home to her.

Another tattoo reads “02.03.07,” the date that 23-month-old Nyia Page was
found dead after her father sexually assaulted her and left her in the
bitter cold. Her tiny footprints in the snow led an officer to her body.
And I have “09.16.13,” the date Derrail Roilton, a father of two, was
found dead in the yard next to his mother’s home after being shot three
times.

These murders and tragic deaths in Braddock, and others in similar towns
and cities across Pennsylvania, became so normal that they were a talking
point in our elected leaders’ speeches and footnotes in media stories.  

That’s why I have these tattoos. They are not some “costume.” They are
reminders of the people we have lost and what I am fighting for. Both the
dates on my right arm and the “15104” on my left — Braddock’s ZIP code —
are personal to me.

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My decision to mark these deaths with tattoos was inspired in part by
their permanence — the fact that these people, their stories and my town
will be with me forever. I get that etching art permanently onto your body
isn’t how most politicians would express their connection to their
communities. But I don’t care about what anyone else thinks. It felt right
to me.

I care deeply about my community and the people I represent. As mayor, I
always felt a sense of obligation and responsibility for tragedies that
happened under my watch. 

I put these dates on my arm because I realized that we had lost the shock
of these deaths. We became numb. I did it because I never saw the media or
the public at large caring about these victims, most of them young Black
men. 

During my tenure as mayor, Braddock, which saw three homicides in the year
before I became mayor, went 5 ½ years without the loss of life through gun
violence. We made a difference and we saved lives. It’s my proudest
accomplishment in public service.  

I was a hands-on mayor and showed up at almost every crime scene because I
felt a sense of duty to our community. I wanted to do everything I could
to keep my town safe. 

That’s one of the core differences between my opponent for the U.S.
Senate, Mehmet Oz, and me. 

While he was making millions of dollars peddling "miracle cures" from a TV
studio in Manhattan and living in a mansion on a hill in New Jersey, I was
rolling up my sleeves and putting in the work to make my community safer.
I’m the only candidate in this race who has fought violent crime and won.

[ [link removed] ]If you’re ready to defeat Dr. Oz and send a real fighter for PA to the
U.S. Senate, I need your support. Will you consider pitching in your
first
$5 today?



[ [link removed] ]Donate Now »



The stories of the people whose lives we tragically lost still are with me
every single day — not just on my arm but in every decision I make as an
elected official. 

They remind me of why I am here and why I’m doing this.

Thanks for hearing me out, 

John 

John Fetterman
Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania
Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate




 


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