Hi Friend,
I went to the Hamilton County Democratic Headquarters Tuesday night to write postcards for Missy Crutchfield, a Democratic candidate I like. (To be clear, I identify as a left-leaning Independent, not a Democrat.) As I sat around a table with 15 or so Dems, all talking about politics, one woman said about Trump supporters, “I don’t even want to talk to those people anymore.”
I can’t stop thinking about this. I hear Republicans saying the same thing about “DIMocrats,” and wonder how we’ll ever find our way back to each other. The above sentiment breaks my heart. I have friends and family who are MAGA Republicans, and if I stop talking to them, what hope is there? We disagree about a lot just now, and it can be hard to find common ground. So let us debate fiercely and respectfully – but let’s never stop talking to and loving each other.
In other matters, my letters have changed, haven’t they? I’m sure you’ve noticed. I still desperately want to reach across the divide. I still feel these are love letters – but they are also, increasingly, a desperate cry for … well, for many things. Beginning with evidence. Objective, hard-core, worthy-in-a-court-of-law evidence. Because we are, at this moment in time, presented with two starkly different realities. Two versions of America – and both cannot be true. To avoid a potential catastrophe in a few short weeks, ideally, we would figure out what is factually correct and what is “alternative fact.” What is true and what is objectively, affirmatively not true, in other words.
Under the category of Not True, Trump has spent the last few weeks spreading misinformation (lies) about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Government's response to two devastating hurricanes, thus making a dire situation even more dire. Before fact-checking Trump’s untrue claims, plenty of other folks jumped on the bandwagon and helped spread the disinformation (wrong information as opposed to lies). It got so bad here in Tennessee that even our very Republican Governor felt compelled to set the record straight, as did Governor DeSantis in Florida and countless other Government and FEMA officials.
As always, these lies have devastating, real-world consequences. FEMA workers on Sunday were forced to evacuate Rutherford County, North Carolina, after the U.S. Forest Service encountered armed militia who announced they were “hunting FEMA.” The group had been whipped into a frenzy because of Trump’s false claims that FEMA was seizing land to start lithium mining projects. For the record, Rutherford County was one of the hardest-hit counties in NC. Citizens there are turning away desperately needed help because they are afraid. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Rutherford County's sheriff, Aaron Ellenburg. Ellenburg spent days refuting made-up stories about lithium sales and communities being bulldozed to hide dead bodies. “I’m sick and tired of this crap.”
There is no way to put a positive spin on these lies, no way to pretend that this is normal for the Republican party. My Republican friends – including you, I know – would never knowingly engage in such deceitful and destructive behavior. That said, while outrageous, the lies are exceedingly effective in painting FEMA in a bad light and sowing general distrust. The stories might not be strictly accurate, the thinking goes, but FEMA, under the Biden admin, must be scary and bad in a general way and on some level… Haitian immigrants might not actually be eating cats and dogs, but they must be scary and bad in general and on some level…
But is it? And are they? No, and no. (Not that FEMA doesn't have legitimate problems, and not that our immigration system isn't broken. There are crucial conversations we should be having about both, which is why this sort of inane distraction is all the more maddening.)
Especially when it feels like the world is crumbling around us, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. This is where evidence comes in.
Speaking of which! A dear old friend (who is, like you, very right-leaning) has agreed to join me in this quest for evidence. This friend has very real concerns about migrant crime. Just now, I opened my email to a list of her questions and concerns, which she agonized over for weeks. It is so earnest and thoughtful and means the world to me.
I’ll share her note and list with you soon. Then, she and I will head out on a question-answering adventure together. We’ll go in search of evidence – objective, hard-core, worthy-in-a-court-of-law evidence. We’ll conduct interviews together. She will check my work, and I will check hers.
We’ll do this together, with her in her red shirt and me in my blue shirt. This, friend, is what The Letters Project is all about.
Before I close, I want to point out that there is good news, too. News that gives one hope for America. Sarah Garrard, a glass artist from Ashville, North Carolina, says:
“People have lost their homes, their livelihood, and their lives to this horrible natural disaster that no one anticipated. And I have also seen such unbelievable beauty and the greatest attributes of humanity. Seeing people show up in droves to help one another regardless of political or religious affiliation. I have seen the government show up and city and state officials deal with the worst disaster to ever hit this region. I've seen grassroots organizations and rescue teams formed. I have seen neighbors helping neighbors. Strangers helping strangers. I have seen the absolute WORST of Mother Nature and I have seen the absolute BEST of humanity.”
And in Springfield, IL, where outsiders are currently terrorizing legal Haitian immigrants, members of the Springfield community are, in TRUE American fashion, showing up to support these new Americans, doling out the kind of love and acceptance this country is capable of at its best. I read an article about local residents going out of their way to eat at a local Haitian resident, and that inspired me to include a link to this Haitian food blog. Because what better way to reach across the ever-growing divide than with food? In that spirit, please enjoy:
Link HERE
Love!
Sara
PS. Want to do more, learn more?
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