A View from the Mountains
It is important that each citizen does his part to report abuse of the voting rights of any person in the United States. America's experiment with Democracy will surely fail if universal voting is denied. It is why your vote is so important in the upcoming national election in November.
In case you missed it through the fog of Covid-19, Portland, Oregon is dealing with masked men who kidnap protesters off the streets. They are federal agents who work for the Department of Homeland Security.They are wearing military-style tactical gear with no badges and are picking up people and throwing them into vans for no apparent reason other than being in the proximity of federal buildings. There has been some vandalism during repeated protests. Most of those picked up have never been charged with anything and have been released. But that's beyond the point.
By Hank Silverberg
My wife and I got in the car this past week for a trip back in time. We wanted to go somewhere where we didn't have to wear a mask and could stay away from other people. Our destination was 77 miles and about 90 minutes from our home to the pristine Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia. The Shenandoah National Park is there thanks to the foresight of Teddy Roosevelt, who was instrumental in setting up our national park system. It is accessible thanks to his cousin FDR who created the Civilian Conservation Corps which built Skyline Drive and it's rustic campsites in the 1930's. The CCC was a popular project that put thousands of Americans to work during the Great Depression.
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| (My photo of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley viewed from Skyline Drive) |
We were in the mountains for about three hours, but were treated to spectacular views and a peaceful picnic stop. For $20 (senior citizen price) for an annual pass, we were able to forget about the pandemic and really enjoy ourselves. We could see a bit farther than usual, because the lack of traffic during the pandemic in the D.C. region has cut down the air pollution that usually hangs over the Shenandoah Valley.
Reality kept dropping in though. We had to put our masks on twice when several small groups of people got too close, and we discovered that the visitor's center has not yet reopened because of Covid-19 social distancing rules.
But the trip reminded us of what a great place the United States is. We have vast open spaces with spectacular sites that have been preserved forever and are open to everyone, not just the rich and privileged. We plan to go back for the spectacular fall colors in October. The pandemic, as bad as it is, has not ruined places like our national parks. They can still provide us with hope in the future for a return to something close to the real American Dream.
Hopes and Dreams:
You cannot talk about hopes and dreams without thinking about the two patriots and civil rights icons America lost this past week.
Congressman John Lewis served the 5th District of Georgia for 33 years and was 80 years old when he died of pancreatic cancer. His legacy and contribution to equality and justice in the United States started in the 1960's. As a 25 year old student, he led the march across the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on Bloody Sunday in 1965. It is considered a turning point in the Civil Rights movement.
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| (Lewis being beaten in 1965 Courtesy of History Channel) |
https://www.history.com/news/selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement Lewis was severely beaten by police and arrested during that protest for Black voting rights. He was arrested over 40 times in his life for participating in peaceful protests.
Lewis was a civil rights warrior on the right side every time, fighting hard against bigotry and for racial equality until his last breath. He was often called the "Conscience of the U.S. Congress" because he never wavered. His last public appearance was beside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as they stood on Black Lives Matter Plaza just a few weeks ago after days of protest outside the White House in wake of the murder of George Floyd. Mayor Bowser tweeted out this picture with the message "Rest In Power" as part of her tribute to Lewis.
There are not too many people left on the political stage right now with the morality and fighting spirit of John Lewis, whom I met years ago while covering Congress in the late 1990's. He will surely be missed.
We also lost C.T. Vivian on the same day. Vivian was not as well known as Lewis, but he had been a key advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, was also one of the Freedom Riders for voting rights, and he had led the first lunch counter sit-in back in 1947. Reverend Vivian was 95 when he died.
The Pettus Bridge protest and others that followed were prominent on national television and eventually lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Along with the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, it turned the Democratic party around, away from their Dixiecrat past and toward the more progressive stand that the party has now advocated for five decades.
It is also a tragedy that 55 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, today's Republican party has made numerous attempts to suppress voting rights among minorities and the poor, and that it has shown its ugly head the most in Georgia, the state represented by John Lewis.
The original Voting Rights Act was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013, and just last year Lewis lead an effort in the House to bring back many of its provisions. The new bill would reinstate federal oversight of state election law to protect against racial discrimination.
The bill passed the House despite almost unanimous Republican opposition last December, but it has been ignored in the Senate for more than 200 days because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring it up for a vote.
If Republicans can't stay in power with universal voting for ALL citizens, and have to resort to voter suppression to win office, then they don't deserve to be in office.
Like many people, I am disgusted with the reaction to the Congressman's death from Republican leaders, particularly the President. They have spent years battling many of the Congressman's efforts and have actually worked hard to suppress minority voters.
It is likely this issue and others will lead to what Lewis called "Good Trouble," as the election approaches and even after the election no matter what the outcome. The quest for a more perfect union goes on.
And then, there is this:
Suppressing votes is not the only thing the average American has to worry about as we head closer to the election.
If you listen to some right-wing national media (read Fox News) you would think those federal agents are there to quell massive violence throughout the entire city. But local press says otherwise. The well respected Oregonian newspaper says this is all playing out in one small area of the city, and in most cases Portland is peaceful.
The Governor of Oregon and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, have protested the federal presence. Wheeler called them the President's "private army." He told CNN the presence of the federal police has rekindled protests which had been dying down and has made the situation much worse. It should be noted that most of the protests have been peaceful, but that spurious group of "anarchists" in the black outfits have reared their ugly heads and taunted the police to confuse the issue.
I suspect video of those federal agents all dressed up in that military gear as they take one of those "anarchists" into custody on a Portland street will show up in some "Re-Elect Trump" TV or internet ad which will describe the President on top of "law and order."
Both U.S. Senators from Oregon have asked for an explanation and an investigation of this tactic which the President has said could be used in other cities with protests. Oregon has already challenged the deployment in federal court. You can be sure the increased presence of masked agents without badges, using unmarked cars on the streets of American cities will bring more unrest, not less.
The irony here, is the thousands of people who think the inconvenience of wearing a face mask during a pandemic is a violation of their rights. They say nothing about masked, secret police on the streets of a major American city.
This is simply not the United States I grew up in.
News Briefs:
Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I am a die-hard baseball fan. The shortened season is supposed to start this coming week, but somewhere deep down I knew things might not work out. It appears the Canadian government has now told the Toronto Blue Jays that they will not be able to play their home games at the Rogers Centre, their home field.
The team has been preparing for the season there, but it seems the Canadians are worried about cross-border contamination from 
Covid-19 when the team travels. That's not an outlandish worry, since the Blue Jays open the shortened season in Tampa Bay, now in the Red Zone for the corona virus.
The Blue Jays are now looking for an alternative, with Buffalo, New York, just across the border a strong possibility. It's where their Triple-A affiliate, the Bisons, usually play, but their minor league season has been cancelled this year so the ballpark is available. There would still be no fans in the stands. The Jays other alternative would be their spring training facility, but that is in Dunedin, Florida, also in the middle of the Red Zone. So, the Blue Jays could become orphans for this season. Stay tuned.
Update:
You may remember my mention in an earlier blog about that huge confederate flag on the 80 foot pole that towers over I-95 as you near Fredericksburg, Virginia. It first went up in 2014 and Stafford County, where it flies, has been unable to respond to complaints
about it because it sits on private property. The renewed focus on confederate symbols like the "Stars and Bars" since the death of George Floyd in May, has again produced complaints about that flag. It continues to startle people from outside the region in its size and audacity as they pass it on the highway. The flag's racist past and connection to slavery is not a welcoming sight, especially to people of color or to local business leaders worried about the state's image. The Virginia Delegate who represents the area, Joshua Cole, has asked the state Attorney General for a legal opinion on what can be done to remove the flag, and has talked about possible legislation to do so. Both are likely to run into First Amendment issues, since the flag is on private property. A group called Virginia Flaggers controls the flag and they are not likely to respond to any call to remove it. The Free Lance Star is reporting that same group has put the "Stars and Bars at 31 locations near roadways around the state and is trying to put up a similar flag on a 112 foot pole, also along I-95 in Chesterfield County.
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| (This is the flag on an 80 ft pole along I-95 near Fredericksburg, VA) |
Despite a dramatic turn towards progressive politics in Virginia over the last few years, "The myth of the lost cause" dies very hard in the Old Dominion.
Entertainment Returns:
I have tried as often as possible to end my blog with some entertainment. This time it's also relevant. John Prine, a country-folk singer often described as "homespun and witty," died last week at age 73 from complications of Covid-19. My friend Chris Shaw knew Prine and has written a song in his honor. Here's Chris, from his home in upstate New York with his first unrehearsed performance of "Wash Your Damn Hands."
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
(Copies of my book "The Campaign" are available at the on-line sites listed below. Or you can order a signed copy at a REDUCED PRICE with my signature by emailing me at HankSilverberg@gmail.com)
Or you can get one at: Amazon
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