Several members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned Friday, calling on President Donald Trump to do likewise.
The group cited Trump's comments in the wake of violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., comments they called "un-American," as the reason for their resignation, the Hill reports. They also accused Trump of "undermining the Civil Rights Act" and objected to his cutting arts funding.
The group's letter was posted on Twitter by actor Kal Penn, one of its signatories. Other notable signatories include director George Wolfe and visual artist Chuck Close.
Notably, the first letters of each paragraph in the letter spell out the word "RESIST."
Dear @realDonaldTrump, attached is our letter of resignation from the President's Committee on the Arts & the Humanities @PCAH_gov pic.twitter.com/eQI2HBTgXs
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) August 18, 2017
"Reproach and censure in the strongest possible terms are necessary following your support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville," the letter reads. "The Administration's refusal to quickly and unequivocally condemn the cancer of hatred. Your words and actions push us all further away from the freedoms we are guaranteed."
"Speaking truth to power is never easy, Mr. President," it reads. "But it is our role as commissioners on the PCAH to do so."
The letter ends with a call for Trump to resign from the presidency.
"Supremacy, discrimination, vitriol are not American values. Your values are not American values," it reads. "If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too."
The move comes after a number of prominent businessmen resigned from the American Manufacturing Council, which also advises the president.