Every time I write about Steve King, congressman from Iowa, I end my article believing that he will never be able to sink any lower in the cesspool of racism and bigotry. Then he proves me wrong. What truly frightens me is what the voters in Iowa’s 4th district are like. They must be the most anti-American men and women in the United States to have elected him to office eight times. He is the worst extremist in America, and a good reason not to visit the state of Iowa.
This time King is attacking a true American hero. Emma Gonzalez is a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. She is a survivor of the murders which occurred at her school this past Valentine’s Day. A couple of days later she became an activist for safer gun laws and one of the few heroes I have ever had in my life.
Ms. Gonzalez is 17 years old. She is far wiser and much more courageous than any member of our government. As I watched her and other young men and women last Saturday, I admit to shedding tears as my chest filled with pride. The white supremacists and hypocrites on the far right who share King’s despicable views of my nation had forced me into bouts of depression. I was born in 1946 and no one had to teach me about patriotism; I lived it. Saturday I was reminded of the protests my own age group led and attended during the tragic Vietnamese War. Like the young men and women last Saturday, we demanded that the people, all of the people, become our government’s priority, not big business and special interests.
Protesting is the most patriotic action an American can take. But if you are a disreputable man like Steve King, you don’t see it that way. Your are likely a privileged, old, white man who has nothing to contribute to his country.
His attack was based on the fact that she carried with her a Cuban flag. She is a proud American whose family came to our country from the island of Cuba; just 75 miles off of the coast of Florida. King expressed his hatred for not only former Cuban dictators, but for all Cubans and Cuban-Americans.
“This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defense,” the meme said alongside an image of Cuban-American Emma Gonazlez, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.
One of King’s staff was even more vile in his efforts to discredit a true American hero. But Brandon Wolf, another survivor of the attack, shot back at King and his vile staff.
“When it was my community, where were you?” Wolf asked. “When it was Sandy Hook? Columbine? Were you on the sideline mocking those communities too? Did you question someone identifying as a mother? Did you question whether people like me were crisis actors?”
Young Mr. Wolf was not finished.
Wolf added: “Emma stood for 6 mins and 20 seconds to honor the lives of 17 gone too soon. The least you could do is shut your privileged, ineffective trap for 6 seconds to hear someone else’s perspective.”
This is a battle the NRA gun lobby and its puppets, GOP politicians, cannot win. It may be long and it may be bloody with the removal of dozens of Republicans from office in November and in 2020, but we, the people, will be victorious over our greatest enemy; our own government. We have been ignored for far too long. Time for real change. Time for us to follow our children; they will lead us into battle and we will be victorious.
To all Republicans, I say, ‘join us,’ or get the hell out of the way.
Op-ed by James Turnage
Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey
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