7/18/2020

My dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

            I hope your golf game today brings you some peace of mind. That’s a commodity that’s hard to come by these days. On top of CV & the heat wave in Siberia, I’m particularly perturbed today by the federal oppression going on in Portland. Armed, camouflaged people jumping out of unmarked vans to arrest protestors is down-right creepy. When young folk are making what John Lewis (JRL) would call, “good trouble,” don’t you think they should be treated with dignity & respect?

            From what I can tell from reading the Oregonian, the protestors moved some temporary fencing. Are you sure you want federal agents getting involved? I’m afraid they are making matters more explosive than they otherwise would be.

            I hope that your visit to the links will provide you with the grace to offer some condolences to those of us who are saddened by JRL’s death. We have lost one of our last 1960’s Civil Rights heroes. As Stacy Abrahms wrote, “a griot of this modern age, one who saw its hatred but fought ever towards the light.” (In case you’re wondering a griot is a repository of oral tradition in Western Africa. I had to look that up.) JRP had an incredibly resonant speaking voice which he used to share his tales of being beaten & arrested as he practiced non-violent resistance & civil disobedience.

            Those protestors in Portland are his legacy & when you beat up on them, it makes you look bad. That’s what happened on Bloody Sunday in 1965 & Americans were horrified to see well-dressed Black folk being assaulted by State Troopers. JRL led the march on Edmund Pettus Bridge that day & his spirit is touching the hearts of every protestor today as they adhere to his plea, “Do not get lost in a sea of despair…Be hopeful, be optimistic.” I’m going to do my best to follow that advice.

            Please give peace a chance.

            HYITL,