I can't remember a time when I felt that we were in danger of loosing our democracy. The Trump administrations distain for the rule of law and his willingness to embrace the violent racist element in this country has me very concerned. I came of age politically during the 60's when African Americans were struggling to obtain their civil rights. I well remember the violent confrontations in the streets of our cities.
When I was in the service I was stationed part of the time in the south and was a first hand witness to the racism that is still present. African American service men were discriminated against if they went off base. Interestingly, if your car had a yankee license plate, you always got special attention from the local service. Didn't matter whether you were white or black. When the the American public turned fully against the Vietnam War, military personnel were discriminated against. As service man's wife, my wife was unable to find employment. Traveling was never fun. If you were traveling under orders you had to be in uniform which made you a target of the anti-war protestors that were present at major airports. When I came home to get married, I was accosted by a protestor who spit on me and threw red ink in my face calling me a baby killer. Did you know that Vietnam War Era vets are classified as an economically disadvantaged class in this country? Economic discrimination because we were viewed as somehow flawed by our collective experience. In a months time I will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day that I answered my country's call.
I am blessed to have both African American and Japanese American family members. As you know I worked for Longevity Wines as the Asst. Winemaker for 10 years. The owner and winemaker is Phil Long an African American winemaker who gave me an education on how the institutional racism in this country affected him and his business. I was actually in the same vehicle with him one day when we were stopped for "driving while black". The cop backed off when I flashed my military ID.
I hope to see a change of administration with this next election and a return to competent leadership, decency, empathy, and the rule of law. Happy 4th of July to you all.
