Tina Fey is drawing heat from her appearance Thursday night on NBC’s Weekend Update Summer Edition for digging into a massive sheet cake with the American flag on it, her way of dealing with the aftermath of Charlottesville. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Fey was obviously upset by what happened on her alma mater’s campus. And like the rest of us, she’s finding a way to cope.
What do we do when the world seems to be spinning off its axis and those we have entrusted with protecting our nation seem to be causing so much of the turmoil? This isn’t about politics. It’s about making America safe for all its citizens, no matter their race or religion. My father fought in World War II. He never really spoke very much about what he did and what he saw, like so many soldiers who return after war. I wish now I had pushed him harder to talk about it. There’s so much I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that he would have been horrified watching neo-Nazis waving swastika flags. This should not be happening at this time in our country. Heather Heyer, the young woman who was mowed down by that white supremacist, said in her last Facebook post: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
Many of us don’t have Heather’s courage to go out and march and place ourselves in danger’s path. I still have family members and close friends who support this president. I haven’t cut them off, but I try to listen to them and I hope they listen to me. Absent any moral leadership from the White House, we have to try to come together in other ways. A conservative columnist on MSNBC said that this is the time to look to other leaders around our country to step in with guidance, to try to say the right things at the right time. To try to heal our country and stop the hatred and violence before many more people are hurt and killed.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the recent attack in Barcelona. But closer to home we watched Americans carry out this violence against other Americans. It has to stop. When will it stop?
