Things US citizens must do — and not do

Let us not:

▪  View the incident in Charlottesville as an isolated event, making the same mistake that was made 85 years ago in Germany.

▪  Look at Steve Bannon and Breitbart News as an aberration. When news is crafted for a specific group, is it news or is it propaganda?

▪  Ignore the actions of a president who one day tries to put out the flames of hatred and neo-Nazism with a water gun and the next day throws gasoline on the fire.

▪  Sit by idly while the police and sheriffs across the country turn a blind eye as Jewish, black, LGBT, Latino or other groups opposed by the neo-Nazis are being attacked and having their places of worship and peaceful gathering defaced and destroyed. We no longer have to live with the actions of the police in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Instead, let us:

▪  Remember that we in the United States have an established process to deal with politicians who fail us. It is the ballot box. In 2018, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election. What stance did your representative take after the president’s comments following Charlottesville? Keep it in mind in 2018.

▪  Speak up to friends and neighbors and to those whose politics differ from yours as to the danger this country faces. Remember that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. We cannot allow that to happen here.

This story was originally published September 10, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Things US citizens must do — and not do."