To the Editor:
Having just spent some time in the Vineyard Haven Post Office lobby, I’m stunned and upset. I was there for a while, surrounded by people of various nationalities, skin colors, ages, sizes, etc. You get the picture. Collectively, we were surrounded by a plethora of “patriotic” decorations, everywhere one looked. Wall-height “Welcome” banners, garlands of shiny stars and signs hang in windows and on walls and poles. Everything was red, white, and blue. The signs reading: “Land of the Free”; tell that to Renee Good. “God Bless the USA”; tell that to our non-Christian citizens who live in fear. “Land of the Free Because of the Brave”; tell that to Alex Pretti. (By the way, Pretti was the Brave.) “Welcome”; tell that one to the immigrants who are suffering untold horrors. If we are so star-spangled great, why do children get gunned down in school?
It’s all propaganda. You are welcome, free, and blessed if you are wealthy, powerful, white, and male. The Trump administration is trying to brainwash us. We on M.V. are too smart, too compassionate, too respectful to be fooled by an egomaniacal autocrat. Vineyard Haven postmaster, please remove the signage.
Susan Desmarais
Oak Bluffs