To The Reader’s Forum:

Is Donald Trump really our President, or are we all in a dream together? Things seem to go from bad to worse and no matter how I try I can’t seem to wake from what I perceive to be a bad dream. It has been a struggle to call him “President” and recent events surrounding his responses to the Charlottesville tragedy solidified my struggle. I certainly respect the office of the President, but I have practically zero respect for the person who currently holds that office.

“White supremacy” or other “hate” groups have no place in an America that is based on principles of inclusion; even if it has taken laws and court decisions to uphold “inalienable” rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If a person believes that supremacy and hate groups are morally wrong, then, as Texas pastor and author Jen Hatmaker states: “white supremacy is a scourge upon the American landscape, and the only adequate response is … unwillingness to normalize the language, icons, symbols and inequitable systems that celebrate the White Story over the Real Story.”

Tavis Smiley, author and TV personality noted that Viola Liuzzo, in 1965, was the “first white female protester to die in the civil rights movement.” Smiley noted the parallels of Liuzzo and Heather Heyer, another white woman who was killed at Charlottesville “at a rally protesting the Klan”. He states: “There is no peace without justice” and both women understood it. He concludes: “The only way for them to receive dignity in death — for their lives to truly matter — is for all of us to comes to terms with what killed them: American-style hate.”

Simply put, there are no two sides to the issue — it is totally anti-American to support or “enable” supremacy or hate groups. It is our moral duty to speak, and if needed act out against the “scourge.” It’s hard for me to fathom how people continue to justify flags and statues that represent the principles behind the “scourge.” I believe that the vast majority of Americans live their lives with integrity based on some moral background; I hope they have the courage to show it. If there is one issue that unites America is should be working for “liberty and justice for all.”

I sure hope the bad dream ends before a worse reality comes true.

Paul L. Demler

Jamestown