You’re either with them or against them
Many Americans now base their views only on those facts convenient to them, and we find ourselves so deep in this divide that white nationalists can comfortably operate in open society. How can decent people allow this to happen?
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, President Bush justifiably said, “You are either with us or the terrorists,” and the same should hold true for these racists and bigots. They seek a return to an earlier, European-based America, fallaciously based upon the descent of the men who drafted our Constitution and not upon its actual words that are “strictly construed” by some only when convenient. They also justify their propaganda by ascribing selected accomplishments by better people who coincidentally share their ancestry, while bemoaning the failures of individuals of other races and nationalities comprised of many others far better than them.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said, we should be judged not by the color of the skin we did not choose, but by the content of our character, which we can choose. Those of us who oppose this white nationalist movement would also be well served to follow his peaceful, law-abiding actions, or we undermine our opposition to it. We are better than them.
Brian V. Gorman
Washington
Gorman is the executive director or Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services