Trump shaping us into country we don’t want
Those of us escaping Nazi bombs, which began falling on Antwerp on my third birthday, somehow crossed Europe to Portugal, then fortunately got on a boat from which we settled in the United States and thereafter became true citizens. My father and I, in our long separated military times, did our duties, joining the U.S. Army. We now live with disgusting, horrendous, tragic speech, the
current president’s duplicitous way of handling the affairs of our nation.
It’s not only his spouting endless lies about his vile personal activities, his manipulation of our money to enrich himself, his family and his cronies (some now correctly jailed) his persistent insulting of those in Congress — women and men — who are other than his color. Most of us have learned that our neighbors and those we meet elsewhere in our cities, those with whom we work and play and those who may happen to be of different color or religion or choose to dress differently, also become our friends, our neighbors, also people of the world who have every right to not only be here but also to be our friends. I have no memories of any Trumpian kind of horrendous treatment by people of different religion or origin as my sister and I grew up as Jews in the Bronx.
As we grew, my parents — despite being foreigners — knew to raise us as people of this country, did not allow talk of language which would tend to hurt feelings (as Trump’s every day speech) would pay attention to our acting correctly around unknown others, especially of different origins.
When Dad was in the Army and was ordered to keep black soldiers from crossing a field between white barracks, he refused despite the threat of court martial.
That story continues with me forever.
Dan Lourie
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle 3/19/20