To The Editor,
The silence has been deafening.
We are now at the events of Charlottesville + 1 month. I am represented by 4 Republicans – Representative Barrar and Senator Killion at the state level, and Congressman Smucker and Senator Toomey at the federal level.
I get regular e-mail newsletters from all. Only one, Senator Toomey, has spoken out about Charlottesville. It took him 11 days to do so. Not 11 minutes, not 11 hours, but 11 days to find his moral compass. Barrar, Killion and Smucker are without a compass and still lost in a moral wilderness. That leaves the rest of us facing the true terrorist threat in this country – white right-wing terrorism.
Even though Toomey eventually did speak out against the supposed moral equivalence of the fascists, racists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, white nationalists and those who protest against them, his response remains too little, too late.
He took no responsibility, either personally or for his Party, and offered no course of action to reduce the right-wing threat.
Toomey failed to call out his President Trump whose language, actions (or lack thereof), and appointments have encouraged, and validated, these fascists, racists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, white nationalists. Of course, we should expect this, because they are part of the deplorables in his and Trump’s base.
In fact, PA is a hot-bed of hate groups, 40 to be exact, according the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center). Virginia with 42, Texas with 55, and Florida with 63 are the only former Confederate slave states that have more than PA.
Therefore, we need PA politicians to speak out strongly, unequivocally, and often against these hate mongers. We do not need dead silence from them.
The Republican Party is now fully out of the closet. It is the home of systemic, institutionalized racism in this country, and all the fellow travelers – fascists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, white nationalists.
The Republican Party has pursued extremism (including treasonous acts by their last five Presidents) and racism as a path to power since the 1960s, starting with their presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and their Southern Strategy. The Republican racist Southern Strategy has been obvious since Nixon and Reagan, and the likes of Jessie Helms and Strom Thurmond.
The Republican racist hatred of everything Obama was, and is, patently obvious. Their anger and loathing at having an African American (Democrat) in the supposedly “White” House was obvious. Now they have successfully put a dangerous racist, white nationalist in the “White” House.
This racist, white nationalist in the “White” House has just pardoned a racist, white nationalist sheriff in Maricopa County, AZ. This sheriff racially-profiled Hispanics and ran a jail more aptly called a concentration camp. So much for the rule of law. The President and the Sheriff were also the leaders of the racist ‘Birther Campaign’ against Obama.
The Republican Party continues to use non-existent ‘voter fraud’ as cover to commit ‘election fraud’ by disenfranchising people of color (and seniors and young people). That’s what Trump’s Voter Fraud Panel is all about – committing election fraud via racist voter suppression.
We now know that ‘Make America Great Again’ is just Republican rhetorical cover for ‘Make America White Again.’
These Republican values are not my family values.
Dr. B. Gerard Bricks
Kennett Township
Editor’s Note: Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-16) did offer immediate comment (as published on Aug. 16 in The Times) repudiating Trump’s comments: “Those who march under Nazi flags or with KKK-affiliated groups are not ‘fine people.’ “
so well put – these “leaders” are holding themselves hostage to hatred.