Fight racism, don’t destroy a country

Over the past several weeks we have seen the fight against racism being overrun by those who desire a totalitarian government and who are using the public discontent over serious equality issues to force their own unrelated ideological movement.

I support protesters who want their voices to be heard as our nation faces racism head on. I support, no matter how loud, any peaceful protest to express a point of view and get nationwide attention. However, those who have used protest to camouflage their real intention of inciting deliberate acts of violence, completely unrelated to the issues of racism and justice, is wrong and has muted the voices of those trying to better our nation.

There is no doubt that we must stop racism in our country. There is also no doubt that the vast majority of police work hard to keep us safe. With those powers must come accountability. Connecticut Republicans and Democrats have and will continue to work together to vote on a bill in a special legislative session that addresses police accountability immediately. There are also systemic issues which plague many of our cities and minority communities that also need to be addressed in a longer session with public input.

We need to consider policies like the ones proposed in CT Senate Republicans’ urban agendas to address issues including but certainly not limited to: ending educational inequality, strengthening workforce development, fixing the small business loan program, addressing health equity and making health care affordable. By no means is the above an exhaustive list. However, I don’t believe any list which truly sets out to fight racism or injustice would include the removal of American history as a serious solution.

In Connecticut, we have not seen intentional violence, but we have watched it unfold on television. The hypocrisy of those violent protesters is that they are doing this to stop oppression when in fact they use oppressing measures as a weapon. These violent protesters are not those I see in Connecticut fighting for equality. Rather, they are a small group completely uninterested in progress and only interested in fighting against everything that this country stands for. America is not faultless. Our nation has grown and made grave mistakes along the way. We will continue to change, adapt and fix societal ills. That is what America is about.

But there are those who have overridden the movement against racism and are instead trying to turn it into a movement about destruction, beginning with any symbol that reminds them of what it took to make this country. It reminds me of the line from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare’s Henry VI, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Some people think the line meant lawyers were useless, but it was really meant to show that lawyers, who protect the people’s freedom through laws, were an obstacle to those who wanted to overthrow government and establish a dictator and therefore needed to be eliminated.

The acts of violent protesters today have the same goal. By removing symbols of our nation’s history unrelated to racism — like George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, Ulysses S. Grant, houses of worship and others — they remove the reminders of where we came from and the lessons learned. They don’t want to debate issues or use legal methods to remove these symbols. They would rather use

There are those who have overridden the movement against racism and are instead trying to turn it into a movement about destruction, beginning with any symbol that reminds them of what it took to make this country.

bully tactics and violence, which is downright dangerous for the rights of others to have their voices heard. These violent protesters, separate from the movement against racism, don’t want protections or justice. They want to live in a world where the loudest and most violent voice rules over all the rest.

These few individuals may not think highly of our country, but millions of people from all backgrounds continue to come to America for the life, freedoms and protections this country can offer. Most of the protesters today also believe in our nation and are speaking out because they want America, the greatest nation, to live up to its promises.

America is not perfect, nor do we profess to be. We will continue to change and grow, as we should and as we have done for hundreds of years. Mistakes will be made along the way, and we should learn from them, not erase them from memory. We need to work together to strengthen our country, not use violence, lawlessness and mob rule to bring this country crashing down.

State Sen. Len Fasano serves as the Connecticut Senate Republican Leader. He represents the 34th Senate District.

Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press Yellow police tape, concrete barricades and fencing surround the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park in Washington June 25. The Emancipation Memorial depicts a freed slave kneeling at the feet of President Abraham Lincoln. Calls are intensifying for the removal of the statue as the nation confronts racial injustice.