President’s ‘freedom’ full of bigotry, prejudice

“My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty” was sung July 4 across the country.

When we sing this song, we remember white Europeans who sailed to these shores in search of freedom and liberty. Later, some called themselves “Sons of Liberty.” Do we remember the Africans who sailed in boats not as passengers but as human cargo to serve as slaves not finding a sweet land of liberty? Do we remember Native Americans, formerly Indians, who were removed from their homeland and marched across this land treading on broken promises and treaties without knowing liberty on the Trail of Tears? Do we remember the Americans of Japanese descent who were rounded up, stripped of their possessions and property and placed in camps, deprived of the land of liberty? And, now, do we think of the men, women and children, f leeing poverty and oppression, leaving their homes like their white European brothers and sisters of a few centuries ago to seek a new home in the land of liberty, being rounded up?

President Donald Trump commonly uses the language of bigotry and prejudice, calling for freedom and liberty but only when it is according to his perspective and agenda. Football players are required to conform to that agenda. A man stood before thousands of people before the Lincoln Memorial a century after emancipation and cried out, “let freedom ring.”

Our flag, tattered and stained by the sins of our history, still flies as a symbol of our hope that our nation will move into a future resonating with the peal of the bells of freedom and liberty ringing for all. rev. Joseph W. shook Colonie