I framed this letter and pictures of my father and uncles who fought the Nazis in WW2. I bought some flowers and placed them at the War Memorial in Fountain Square Park in Bowling Green, KY (where I live and where Rand Paul lives).
Senator Paul,
I don’t know how to get you to hear what I’m saying. I called your DC and Bowling Green offices yesterday to urge you to ask Donald Trump to dump Bannon. I don’t know if my messages got to you. I was very polite.
When I heard that you said later that day that this is “sour grapes” over an election outcome, do you understand how personally insulting that is?
The election is over. This is not about a candidate or a single person. It never was. This is about basic human decency.
Anyone who has been paying attention knows who Bannon is. How much more evidence is needed? “If it acts like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” (You can replace the word ‘duck’ with other words, like fascist, trafficker in hate. It still works.)
My father and all of my uncles fought in Europe in WWII to stop the spread of fascism and the Nazi culture of hate. So this feels personal to me. I don’t want their sacrifices to have been in vain. I’m placing their pictures here. This sign might be torn down. Their pictures might be removed.
I hope not. I would like other people to add to them. People who have fought in U.S. wars defending American ideals, people who have stood strong during the Civil Rights Movement, to ensure that all Americans are treated equally.
“This is not about a candidate or a single person. It never was. This is about basic human decency.”
However big or small you want government to be (and that is something that can and should be argued from various perspectives), I think we can all agree that the government has an obligation to protect all its people. In a culture of hate, many people in my community, your community, Bowling Green, no longer feel safe.
When I see a foreign student writing that “what they learned about America no longer makes sense,” it feels like I’ve been punched in the gut. How does that statement make you feel?
When I see a woman in a hijab at the Kroger, I don’t need to find out what her immigration status is to decide how I feel about her. She’s my neighbor. I will stand beside her if she’s threatened.
When I see “KKK” spray-painted in a park in Warren County, I don’t feel safe because my neighbors don’t feel safe.
When I see the messages of hate that have been left for students at WKU this past week, I ask myself: How can my senator not understand that these are his neighbors?
Now is not the time to stand idly by and give bigotry a pass. The dangers of under-reacting are too great.
Go ahead. Belittle me. Say it’s “sour grapes.” Call me a crybaby. I’m crying for my country right now. Literally.
Do you understand any of this? Do you represent me? I’m your constituent.
Yes, I’ll sign my name.
I’m not a coward.
And I’m your neighbor.
Before You Go
