Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the editor:

Yesterday was one of the darkest days in recent American history. Americans encouraged by the president’s leadership marched to the nation’s Capitol, where Congress was in session certifying the presidential election. Departing the protest rally called by the president, these Americans transformed into an unruly mob, broke in and ransacked the building in an effort to stop certification of a duly elected president. Clearly this was an act of domestic terrorism and an assault upon democracy here at home and around the world.

This riotous, treasonous activity is an outgrowth of scandalous, dishonest rhetoric by the sitting president, who fairly lost the election. In fact, the president’s defeat at the ballot box has been confirmed by elections in each individual state across the nation. Additionally, his claims of election fraud were denied by his own attorney in open court. Likewise, they were ruled null and void by more than 60 courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court — a Supreme Court with three justices nominated by him.

Imagine with me what this riotous, treasonous scene of terrorist activity would have looked like if persons rioting had been African Americans or other people of color. Without a doubt, the streets surrounding the nation’s Capitol would have been drenched crimson red with blood. Lest we forget the peaceful protestors in Washington, D.C., protesting the brutal death of George Floyd by police, were teargassed in an effort to clear a path to St. John’s Episcopal Church for the president, where he held the Bible up for a photo op. Oh, let us not forget that police deployed teargas and other measures against peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors who were protesting inequality and police brutality.

I pray for peace in our nation. As we go into prayer, let us be guided by the word of God as recorded in the scriptures.

• Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
• Mark 3:25 says, “If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
• Psalm 34:14 says, “Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace and work to maintain it.”
• James 3:18 says, “The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Let all God’s people say amen.

 

The Rev. Derrell Wade

Suffolk