The United States probably held its highest level of international respect at the end of World War II.
We committed everything as a nation to fight against the fascism and racism that killed millions.
Rather than seeking to punish the defeated nations, we helped them rebuild so that today Germany, Italy and Japan are our allies and trading partners, not our enemies.
To be anti-fascist and anti-racist should be considered a good thing.
If a group labeled “antifa” uses violent means to express its views, that is a distortion of the right to peaceful protest.
If anarchists showed up in Seattle to destroy and steal from businesses after peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters had gone home, that too was wrong.
It is not as wrong as the brutal lynching and beating of black people by whites holding power over them, but still wrong.
When a group of armed men showed up at a peaceful protest in Sequim, based on a false rumor of antifa coming to town, that was wrong.
They should have conveyed their concerns to local law enforcement and left their weapons at home.
Those who confronted and followed a multi-racial family in Forks were guilty of racial profiling and intimidation.
This too was wrong.
This time of social upheaval presents opportunity for positive changes in health care, racial justice, business and environmental laws.
We must all question our biases, our sources of information, listen, speak, and vote with care.
Let us make allies, not enemies, of our neighbors.
Marcia Limoges,
Sequim