OPINION: After Trump, Can Love Break Through?
OPINION: After Trump, Can Love Break Through?
Editor: One year ago thousands of Trump supporters assaulted the U.S. Capitol. January 6, 2021 was one of the most horrific events in U.S. history. There is increasing evidence of behind the scenes maneuvering by Trump and his inner circle to thwart the law and overturn the 2020 election. The work of the 1/6 Select Committee is plowing forward, closing in on the instigators of the insurrection. Donald Trump’s role in the plot to end democracy in the United States is becoming more clear as emails and texts are made public. In the light of the current division in the country Anna Hessel believes it is time to be honest with ourselves, face the truth of what happened on 1/6/2021, bring the culprits to justice, and then move toward healing.
By Anna Hessel
The Crush Of Charlottesville
Back in 2017, I took one of the DNA tests that are so very popular. Since I was adopted as an infant, my curiosity about my heritage peaked with regularity – I was giddy with surprise to learn that I am multi-racial. Thrilled that the Lord has chosen to bless me with an interesting rainbow of cultures in a world where racial tensions dolorously abound. On August 12, I looked on in horror at a group who call themselves ‘nationalists,’ terrorize Charlottesville, VA. One of them drove through a crowd in his Dodge Challenger, injuring 19 individuals and killing Heather Heyer. Heather was a beautiful young woman, who was a local paralegal. Little did I know, at the time, this was a foreshadowing of worse things to come. This hideous act prompted then-former Vice-President Joe Biden to run for president in 2020. In my opinion, his election is the only good that has come out of this.
Worse Is Yet To Come
On January 6, 2021, a similar, yet even more heinous act of violence occurred at our nation’s Capitol Building. I find only small comfort in the fact that James Alex Fields, the man responsible for the horrific Charlottesville attack, was sentenced in 2019 to life plus 419 years. The sentence though appropriate does not bring back Heather Heyer. Nor does it heal the scars, both physical and emotional, of those who were injured, or who witnessed her murder. This callous disregard for life, an act of cowardice and pure evil, a precursor to the insurrectionists actions one year ago.
