To those who terrorized our cars with Biden-Harris signage on Sunday, Oct. 11:
My father, a World War II veteran, always said, “I may not agree with you, but I fought for your right to disagree. That’s America.” My husband, a Vietnam Veteran, has said similarly.
Yesterday made me think that there are people in our nation and our community who really do not want a democracy – they want a one-party rule.
Yesterday, the sight of a bunch of old people driving around with Biden-Harris signs so enraged some of our area’s youth and citizens that we were terrorized by at least six different vehicles who chose to follow and harass us from Park Rapids to Menahga.
From the moment we began our little informal parade of cars, we were met with harassment and terrorizing. As we drove onto Hwy. 34, a large pickup pulled out and blocked both lanes of traffic to prevent us from moving. Pickups and cars began swerving between our vehicles and began driving recklessly around us to frighten us. A car swerved in front of me and remained stopped at a stoplight, then began to back into me. Another car had water balloons thrown at them, and yet another had a glass bottle thrown at their vehicle. The group of cars followed us all the way out of Park Rapids to the Menahga city park, where we stopped. The vehicles then proceeded to repeatedly drive recklessly at high speed through the park and yell at us until we finally told them that we had called the police.
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We are not the Antifa. We are just Democrats. We are your friends and neighbors. We live here. If the sight of a Biden-Harris sign so enrages you that it leads to screaming curses or violent anger, then I can only say that does not represent our best selves. That is not our best America.
Seeing yard signs from both parties, seeing vehicles with flags waving for both candidates should remind you that is what democracy looks like – that is what a free election looks like.
If you believe that your violent actions and response to us Sunday is what a nation should be, then I urge you to move to a nation with one-party rule, such as Russia and China.
I, for one, intend to fight for our democracy, where multiple candidates can be on the ballot without fear of harassment or violence. We the people, means all people, and not just those who agree with you or look like you.
Resist hate.
