7/30/2021

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Did you know that I have written you 102 pages of single-spaced letters? 53,628 words, to be exact. Are you feeling the love, yet?

            What you may not know is that my letters are posted to a website with a photo. Today, I can’t decide whether to include an image of Sunisa Lee, beaming with her gold medal, or a photo of police brutality at a protest.

            Unfortunately, I have a lot of protests to choose from. In addition to Myanmar, there’s Cuba, which you are discussing today with some folks from FL. According to Belen Fernandez, writing in Aljazeera, the “US corporate media are peddling false narratives.” She points out that the protests are coming from the embargo we’ve had on Cuba for so long. She claims we are on a “path of vengeance against a tiny country that dared to remove price tags from basic rights like healthcare and education.” She also notes the protest in Colombia, which you haven’t discussed at all.

            Like Myanmar, the protests in Colombia & Cuba involve indiscriminate use of firearms by police, resulting in the deaths of protestors. The protestors say that they want to be treated like citizens rather than enemies. This statement has me thinking about Jan 6 & whether that could be characterized as a “protest.” When does a “protest” become violent & get called an “insurrection” so that citizens become “enemies?” Seems like a fine line.

Fareed Zakaria asks a similar question in today’s WP, writing, “Why is it so difficult to develop and sustain liberal democracy?” He points out that “Liberal democracy is the Goldilocks form of government” with just the right balance between stability and freedom.

Speaking of balance, Sunisa Lee certainly has it!!! She flips around on that beam as if it were the sidewalk. Isn’t it wonderful that she’s representing her Hmong community in such a joyous way! Please make sure to invite her to the WH & ask her how she keeps her balance. That might help us to keep ours.

BYBS,

RCA