Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 27, 2022 16:38:08 GMT -6
, before hurling the word 'traitor' at me.
Alvin Rivera
Sun, March 27, 2022, 7:00 AM
On a beautiful Colorado spring day, a friend and I were having lunch at a restaurant when a middle-aged man approached our table. He said to me, “Thank you for your service,” after noticing I had on my 82nd Airborne Paratrooper hat. I thanked him, in return, for his comment. Then, the man pointed to the Joe Biden pin on my sweatshirt and said, “Traitor!” He was gone in a flash and my friend and I looked at each other, stunned.
Perhaps I should not have been stunned by his abrupt parting comment. The nation has been locked in a war of words over political ideology since Donald Trump ran for president against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Many Americans have had similar hostile comments lobbed at them over what they're wearing, what they look like, even how they speak.
But who are the real traitors? Am I, a Mexican American military veteran who was having lunch with a friend? Is President Biden a traitor? As you might expect, I think that, no, we are not. In my opinion, the traitors are those who stormed the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, reportedly at former President Trump’s encouragement. In my opinion, the Capitol rioters intended to kill or do bodily harm to former Vice President Mike Pence, all Congressional officials and their staff. They intended to disrupt the democratic procedure of confirming our next, lawfully elected president. The traitors entered the Capitol illegally, caused the deaths of Capitol police, damaged property and sought to do harm to congressional leaders. They wanted to end our experiment in democracy by the people, for the people and with the people.
Former President Donald Trump is alleged to have encouraged the mob to storm the Capitol and failed to prevent or stop the action once our country's legislature was breached as lawmakers confirmed our next president. While the jury is out on these issues, the Select Committee set up to investigate the January 6th attack appears to be getting closer to an answer. If Trump is found to have done what I describe above, he, too, would be a traitor.
But what became clear to me after my combative restaurant encounter was that the man who thanked me for my service and then called Biden — or was it me he was referring to? — a traitor had no intention of starting a dialogue with me. Instead, he was hell-bent on ruining my day and offending my friend, simply because he was with me. I question, in fact, if he was being honest when he thanked me for my military service.
This incident troubled me. Americans on both sides of the political spectrum need to come together to discuss our differences instead of resorting to violence to try to force through our belief. If we are to find a way forward, it will be through dialogue, not violent disruption of the political process.
As a Mexican American, I have been confronted by prejudice and discrimination in many areas of my public and private life. I've learned that only by sitting down and working out our differences will we reach some kind of resolution.
I think often of the words the late President John F. Kennedy uttered in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C., in June 1963. I leave JFK's words with you, not as an admonishment but as hope that we can find the path back to dialogue and away from divisions and insults.
"So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct our attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved.
"And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal."
Alvin Rivera, served in the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and was one of nine Colorado Presidential electors for Barack Obama.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain:
news.yahoo.com/thank-said-hurling-word-traitor-110008545.html
The only thing I have an issue with is his use of the words "reportedly" and "alleged". There was no doubt who encouraged the insurrection. I witnessed it just like millions of others worldwide. The difference is some people want to deny and justify it. I guess veterans like Mr. Rivera get the blame for that too for serving in the military and defending the rights of stupid people to have opinions, as well as those who know Tramp is the real traitor.
Alvin Rivera
Sun, March 27, 2022, 7:00 AM
On a beautiful Colorado spring day, a friend and I were having lunch at a restaurant when a middle-aged man approached our table. He said to me, “Thank you for your service,” after noticing I had on my 82nd Airborne Paratrooper hat. I thanked him, in return, for his comment. Then, the man pointed to the Joe Biden pin on my sweatshirt and said, “Traitor!” He was gone in a flash and my friend and I looked at each other, stunned.
Perhaps I should not have been stunned by his abrupt parting comment. The nation has been locked in a war of words over political ideology since Donald Trump ran for president against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Many Americans have had similar hostile comments lobbed at them over what they're wearing, what they look like, even how they speak.
But who are the real traitors? Am I, a Mexican American military veteran who was having lunch with a friend? Is President Biden a traitor? As you might expect, I think that, no, we are not. In my opinion, the traitors are those who stormed the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, reportedly at former President Trump’s encouragement. In my opinion, the Capitol rioters intended to kill or do bodily harm to former Vice President Mike Pence, all Congressional officials and their staff. They intended to disrupt the democratic procedure of confirming our next, lawfully elected president. The traitors entered the Capitol illegally, caused the deaths of Capitol police, damaged property and sought to do harm to congressional leaders. They wanted to end our experiment in democracy by the people, for the people and with the people.
Former President Donald Trump is alleged to have encouraged the mob to storm the Capitol and failed to prevent or stop the action once our country's legislature was breached as lawmakers confirmed our next president. While the jury is out on these issues, the Select Committee set up to investigate the January 6th attack appears to be getting closer to an answer. If Trump is found to have done what I describe above, he, too, would be a traitor.
But what became clear to me after my combative restaurant encounter was that the man who thanked me for my service and then called Biden — or was it me he was referring to? — a traitor had no intention of starting a dialogue with me. Instead, he was hell-bent on ruining my day and offending my friend, simply because he was with me. I question, in fact, if he was being honest when he thanked me for my military service.
This incident troubled me. Americans on both sides of the political spectrum need to come together to discuss our differences instead of resorting to violence to try to force through our belief. If we are to find a way forward, it will be through dialogue, not violent disruption of the political process.
As a Mexican American, I have been confronted by prejudice and discrimination in many areas of my public and private life. I've learned that only by sitting down and working out our differences will we reach some kind of resolution.
I think often of the words the late President John F. Kennedy uttered in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C., in June 1963. I leave JFK's words with you, not as an admonishment but as hope that we can find the path back to dialogue and away from divisions and insults.
"So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct our attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved.
"And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal."
Alvin Rivera, served in the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and was one of nine Colorado Presidential electors for Barack Obama.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain:
news.yahoo.com/thank-said-hurling-word-traitor-110008545.html
The only thing I have an issue with is his use of the words "reportedly" and "alleged". There was no doubt who encouraged the insurrection. I witnessed it just like millions of others worldwide. The difference is some people want to deny and justify it. I guess veterans like Mr. Rivera get the blame for that too for serving in the military and defending the rights of stupid people to have opinions, as well as those who know Tramp is the real traitor.