How often have you heard the lines “We are better than this” and “This is not who we are”? To those who say this, I submit for your approval the following:
• The Capitol riots in Washington, D.C.
• George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City, N.C.
• Daunte Demetrius Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
This is a short, inexhaustive but nonetheless compelling list that is submitted for your perusal. If “this is not who we are,” who are we? Who perpetrated these abhorrent acts?
“Are we better than this”? Before you become too comfortable insisting you were not a perpetrator and go down the river of denial, ask yourself what you did or will do to address the issues.
Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran minister in Germany, was an early Nazi supporter who was later imprisoned for opposing Hitler’s regime. The adapted version of his confessions are famous: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Who will speak for you?
Richard E. Arnold
Delmont