Validation from the top for militias of hate

For the first time in a great while, l am really scared. This country is at a point where political divisions have become a source of deadly violence. Militia groups in many parts of our country take great pride in parading around in their body armor with their ski masks and their semi-automatic weapons. You see them in the streets, on state capital grounds and marching through neighborhoods. And now, 13 men have been arrested in Michigan after a plot had been uncovered by the FBI to kidnap the governor and put her on some sort of kangaroo-court trial for treason.

I remember the social upheavals of the 1960s. They were never like this. Right-wing militia groups all over our nation are starting to come out of the shadows and make their presence known. They have received the one thing they have been waiting for, thirsting for, demanding: validation. They have gotten that precious commodity from no less a person than the president of the United States of America.

They have been told to “Stand back and stand by.” The Proud Boys, The Patriot Prayer and many other small splinter groups have initiated their missions to “Make America White Again.” We saw them in Charlottesville, Va. We saw them in Michigan. We see them on the fringes of every “Black Lives Matter” protest. Are we going to see them at our polling places too?

Many elements in our country seem to have trampled over the ideas of legitimate discussion and compromise. I am talking about those on the left as well as the right. It is a “my way or the highway” state of mind. If you are not with me, you are against me. Is this what we have become? Is this our future? Is this nation going to become a country of armed camps?

We have got to pull ourselves together. We must start looking at ourselves as Americans again. All Americans again. Not black or white, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. But one nation under God that truly has liberty and justice for all.

— Michael Cariker, Bakersfield