Editor’s note: This commentary is by Amos G. Baehr, of Charlotte, who works on an organic chicken, pork and vegetable farm. He is a member of Transition Charlotte and the Charlotte Conservation Commission.
An open letter to TJ Donovan, Vermont Attorney General:
[I] write, with three major interests, in support of your investigation of harassment and intimidation directed at former state representative Kiah Morris.
June 6,1944 (D-Day), may seem like history, but the reappearance of the swastika on the political scene is a reminder that race-based ideologies rarely die. On June 7, 1944, my Uncle Don went ashore on Omaha Beach to affirm the liberties and aspirations of the U.S. Constitution and to resist the oppression of a Nazi regime. He survived the next six months of uninterrupted combat, including the bitter winter Battle of the Bulge. The end of that war was heralded as a liberation because it was a war against oppression, the oppression inherent in any ideology of supremacy. My uncle fought for freedom of expression. He would have me grit my teeth at a swastika on someone’s T-shirt or a license plate that read NAZI. But he would also recognize that the swastika placed on my door or painted on the synagogue across the street is a declaration of war. He would have me be prepared to fight. I am prepared to fight. Ideologies of racial superiority invariably seek a position of mastery and I would neither be nor have a master.
My second interest is in the quality and variety of voices involved in democratic problem solving. Kiah Morris voiced an American experience that few of us in Vermont share directly. A voice that spoke to the aspirational qualities of our experiment in government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The question she clearly put before us is “Will we have government of most of the people by a few of the people or will we have government of most of the people by a full range of the people?” Crowdsourcing by electronic media has demonstrated the power and effectiveness of democratic problem solving. Many voices with many vantage points can lead to solutions to complex problems. Locally and globally we have our hands full of complex problems: climate instability, economic transformation, social reintegration, and community restoration. We need to crowdsource solutions whether in town meeting or on the internet. Kiah’s voice is an essential voice if we are to resist the expansion of oppression and exploitation pervasive in the status quo. She illuminated how oppressors sneak up on us in our personal attitudes as well as collective policy and legislative actions. I want to see even unwelcome voices protected from violence and no violence protected under the guise of freedom of expression.
My third interest is children. The fact that Kiah’s children appear to have been directly intimidated chills my soul. I am that rare male with an elementary teaching certificate and more than a decade of formal experience in child development. There is no political or philosophical justification of freedom that accommodates intimidation of children. An ideology that precipitates such behavior has lost sight of the fundamental nature and potential of full humanity. Its followers have been blinded to humanity in themselves as well as others. Such behavior is criminal. As the most comprehensive law officer in the state of Vermont I would expect that your investigation be comprehensive. Please, spend my tax money to pursue the circumstances and participants in this instance and also report to myself and fellow citizens on the response or lack there of by local authorities. Nothing less than our children, our democracy and our social integrity are at stake.
