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Letters to America – Vol 1 – Part 1

In the aftermath of the November 2016 US Presidential elections, a retired US Navy Sailor pleads for minority inclusion, respect for all life, and the unity of all Americans.

From the Author
To Aaron Zorkin
To the A.C.L.U.
To Angelina Jolie & George Clooney
To President Barrack Obama
To Bernie Sanders
To Bill & Melinda Gates
To Blacks, Latinos, Muslims & Other Minorities
To the D.N.C.
To President-Elect Donald Trump
To Hillary Clinton
To Hollywood
To the KKK & White-Supremacy Advocates
To Leonardo DiCaprio
To Mark Zuckerberg
To Police Chiefs Across America
To the R.N.C.
To Rudy Giuliani
To Silicon Valley
To Teachers Everywhere
To the US Congress & Senate
To US Veterans & Active-Duty Service Members
To White American To Young Americans
About the Author

From the author

I could have addressed these “open letters” to a single, fictitious person. I didn’t. I didn’t for many reasons, chief among them is that some of the points I make herein do not apply to everyone. I didn’t because each of us has a different role to play in our society. For example, the role that a younger American must play is different from that of a police chief. The attorney general’s mandate is different from that of a US Senator.

In addressing certain segments of the populace together with another, while separating, say, teachers from other citizens whose role in society does not include imparting educational knowledge to younger generations, my intention is not to be divisive—far from it.

I wish each one of us had the capacity to see past the filters of race, religion, sexual preference, etc. I wish we had the capacity to accept one another for what we are; instead of granting our respect based solely on a person’s looks, political leaning, or pedigree. Sadly, we have not evolved that much; our country is far from reaching this stage. Most of us might no longer live in huts or hunt with spears; at times, however, our behavior towards one another seems primitive at best.

My hope is that, rather than considering me just another hyphenated-American who is trying to cause trouble, you will regard me as only a concerned citizen of the United States who happens to have been born three blocks from a river, in an area prone to flooding, in the Dominican Republic; someone who at times has gone without food for days; someone who, having had the luck of immigrating to America, is now a retired U.S. Navy veteran.

While the latter attribute might not, in and of itself, mean anything to some, it can, perhaps, serve as proof positive that—even though I wasn’t born an American—I have gladly made sacrifices for her. And there a million other immigrants out there who have had similar experiences. No one has a monopoly on patriotism.

English not my mother tongue, but I hope I have, in the almost thirty years I’ve been exposed to it, learned enough of its intricacies so that I’m able to make myself understood. I hope I have not made it too difficult for you to discern that all I’m trying to do here is search for ways for us to come together, and that, rather than seeking to be divisive (by singling out a particular individual or group), what I seek is to target the person, or group of persons, who I think has the power or authority to take specific actions to prevent our country from being weakened by our stubborn unwillingness to put aside differences of color, creed, sex, etc., and unite.

NOTE: I wrote these words in a hurry—in the heat of the moment, as they say—in the four days following the November 2016 US presidential elections. There’s a chance I might “get in trouble,” both for having the audacity to address some of the recipients of these open letters outside of the “proper channels,” and because of the way I express myself. I am willing to pay whatever price; the words had to be written.

Because of the urgency of the matter, I am publishing these words mostly as they poured out of me. The book did not get the benefit of “a second set of eyes.” There was no editor involved, no one to advise me to “hold back.” There was no outside input. In other words, the mistakes—and I am afraid there might be many— are all mine, as are all opinions.

to AARON SORKIN

The letter you wrote to your wife and daughter the day after the election inspired me to write these words.
Right now, our country needs more people like you; people who are both honest and assertive.
Now is not the time to “wait and see” or to hope that, maybe, “things aren’t gonna be as bad as we fear they might.” Now’s the time for action.

to A.C.L.U.

Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep “stepping up to the plate” when those in positions of power trample over the rights of the American people.
But I wish you would be more proactive, too. I wish you’d consider using some of your resources in a country-wide campaign to educate everyday citizens; to teach them about their rights. This is so they can recognize when those rights are being violated.
Not only that, I wish you would institute a program whose sole aim would be instilling in all Americans the desire to get more involved in politics. As we know, only by getting involved can we effect change.
Most talk is cheap. Talking about how much we dislike this or that party and what it stands for isn’t enough. We must go out there and act.
Thankfully, this action does not involve moving physical mountains. This means that even the feeble-bodied can have an impact without much energy expenditure.
It doesn’t take that much effort to elect the right people to public office; people that have our republic’s best interests at heart; people who see every citizen as someone who can contribute to making our country better. All that is required of us is a few hours every two years.
Is that too much to ask?
Today, there are millions among us who still don’t understand that our vote gives us a voice; that it gives us power.
However, the power inherent in voting is just potential; kinetic energy must act on this power for it to have the outcome we desire (as in, for example, a congressional or presidential election.)

The logic is simple:

IF
{
System.out.println(“We do not vote.”);
}
THEN
{
System.out.println(“We lose the right “ + “to complain about, or demand “ + “anything from, our elected leaders.”);
}

Please, educate our citizens. Educate all minorities; educate those segments in our population that historically have been disenfranchised. Not only that, educate also undocumented immigrants, for they, too, are supposed to have rights. This is another simple equation: America benefits when everyone who’s taken up residence within her borders is educated.

to ANGELINA JOLIE & GEORGE CLOONEY

Would the two of you consider running for office—maybe together? You decide who gets to headline the ticket!

to BARRACK OBAMA

President Obama, sir. I twice voted for you. While I am not one hundred percent satisfied with every aspect of what your administration accomplished in the almost eight years you’ve been in office, I understand that our system of government isn’t an autocracy (it seems to be heading in that direction if this past election is any indication.) I also understand that you were hindered at every turn by a recalcitrant opposition who was, from day one, bent on making you fail, as the former Speaker of the House asserted. What they failed to realize— or did they? — is that, in seeking to hurt the U.S. President and his party, they would be injuring the country also.

I think you are an honest man, and that you have the best interests of our imperfect union at heart. As I indicated in the section above, talk can be cheap. But I don’t think all talk is cheap. Lincoln’s wasn’t; neither was MLK Junior’s. Talk can have substance; it can move people to meaningful, purposeful, action; action which has the greater good as its end. You’re still our president. You can influence millions with the power of your oratory. You can spur people to action. You can inspire. You’re a wise man, and I think you’re good at heart (Some might say I am being naïve—I don’t care.)

It is because I think this of you that I have an inkling you might be inclined to exhort those of us who voted for HRC to just be quiet, to

“take our losses.” It is honorable that, unlike those in the other party, we Democrats are not so prone to start a civil war over having lost an election—despite our candidate having won the popular vote—even if we thought the system was “rigged” as Mr. Trump suggested (In any case, if it is true that this election was rigged, it was rigged in his favor!)

Feels like déjà vu. Doesn’t it?

It wasn’t that long ago that the candidate who won the popular vote didn’t become the president—because of our convoluted election system. All that aside, at least those of us in the Democratic Party understand that war is not always the answer.

Regardless, I urge you to use a few seconds during your address to the nation this coming January 20th to remind the American people how important it is that we keep our current system of government intact; how important it is that we don’t start chipping away at the civil rights we’ve fought so hard to attain.

I know that the party whose power will be cemented in every branch of government starting on January 20^th will not begin by first taking away, say, women’s right to vote, or their right to control their own body (Texas and Ohio already are taking steps in that direction).

No. They won’t start there. Likely, they will start with the issues they think Americans don’t care much about.

The Paris Accord. The TPP. Those sorts of things. They’ll start there because they know that their followers don’t see any fast gains in saving the planet for our future generations; they do not see any tangible benefit in foreign trade either (Of course, history has shown how, for the party bringing the incoming administration to power, anything foreign is bad.)

After that, they will move swiftly to dismantle Obama Care. They are eager to do this not only because they do not care about the wellbeing of the more than twenty-two million people who will lose health insurance as a result of their gutting the current health system; they want to do it because of a baser motive. You see, the problem is that the health care policy has your name attached to it, and, believe it or not, some in our country regard your name, your mere existence, and the fact that you moved into the Oval Office eight years ago, as an aberration. They certainly can do without the memento Obama Care has become.

Sadly, Mr. President, a large segment within our country’s citizenry is bent on living in the past—to our nation’s detriment. They do not realize that this mentality only hinders our progress.

Unlike their young daughters and sons, these fellow Americans wish to regress to the 1950s. There’s no other explanation for their having voted in an administration that, after doing away with the Paris Accord, the TPP, Obama Care, and other signature policies of your government, will be certain to set their sights on women’s reproductive rights and on the minimum wage.

Believe me, Mr. President. Republicans will seek ways to compel the Supreme Court of the United States to abrogate Roe vs Wade, even if such an endeavor means that they would be going against the Court’s on precedent. I fear that they will succeed because they control both houses of Congress; not only that, but they will soon appoint to the SCOTUS judges who espouse their retrograde views.

Stop for a moment, and consider the sort of people who have been in the news as possible candidates for the Supreme Court: Senators Cruz and Sessions.

I won’t expound on the former, whose views we were exposed to throughout the presidential campaign. Of the latter, I will only say that I was appalled at racially-charged commentaries he reportedly made back in the 1980s. What do you think will follow? If it doesn’t precede it. They will go after gay marriage. Since the day after the election, I have witnessed firsthand the terror that the student body at the college I’m attending is experiencing. There are countless reports of African-Americans, transsexual, gays, and other minorities, falling victim to harassment at the hand of Trumps supporters—of course, the PEOTUS will take no responsibility for any of it. You have probably heard the reports about how his having won the election emboldened White supremacists from the KKK to rally in North Carolina in the wee hours of November 9^th.

Who would have thought that in 2016, in America of all places, we would have White folks spitting on the face of African-American students? It is too upsetting for me to continue discussing these latter issues. I will, however, say that I fear for African-Americans, and for those in the LGBTQ community. The latter, just as it is the case with undocumented immigrants, stand to suffer the most under the incoming administration.

I am not, ethnically, considered an African-American. Or am I? I know I am an American, and I think that when the right of even one of us is violated, the whole country should be concerned.

I bring this up because, if the prospective Attorney General (Giuliani, it’s being suggested) has his way, this is exactly what he intends to do. How? By bringing back “stop-and-frisk.” He will trample over the rights of millions of Americans; especially those of Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims. For some reason, I’m not so concerned about my own ethnic group. I’m pleading more for the African-Americans and Muslim among us, for they are the ones who will suffer the brunt of the affront to their dignity when police officers stop them for no other reason than that they were born with the “wrong” amount of melanin in their skin.

How much longer must Blacks and Muslims continue to be the victims of this xenophobia-driven hate?

(to be continued)