Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

What has happened in Charlottesville Friday night and Saturday is beyond repugnant, disgusting and tragic. My Great Uncle, a life-long resident of Merced, fought valiantly in the European theater against the hate that was the Nazis. Around 1944, his plane was shot down and he was a POW until near the war’s end. He was and remains an American Patriot and Hero. If he were alive today, I can only imagine what he would have to say about the White Supremacist Terror that went down all because of a statue, a Confederate flag, and the irrational white man fear that America has been taken away from them. 

Many, many of Congressman Jeff Denham’s constituents have reached out to Denham this weekend asking him to join his bipartisan colleagues and come out to condemn such hate as what happened in Charlottesville and what is festering like a pus-filled boil in Oakdale that is Identity Evropa. Yet our congressman has remained silent all weekend long! 

Many, many, many GOP leaders have condemned the events in Charlottesville, Virginia for what it is — a neo-Nazi terror attack. It is very hard to argue that they were exercising their First Amendment because one does not peacefully assemble wearing tactical gear and carrying guns. In Jeff Denham’s eyes it might be almost as bad as grandmas and grandpas assembling with cupcakes for our congressman and his staff here in Modesto. Why else would law enforcement be called against a group of retired senior citizens bearing cupcakes coming to Denham’s local office a couple of weeks ago? A few days ago, the person who runs Denham’s campaign twitter account likened Indivisible Manteca to anarchists. What should Jeff Denham call the neo-Nazis who came from all over the country, including the Central Valley, California to Charlottesville?

In 1947, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt said, “We did not fight a war against fascism in order to allow it to develop here.” My Great Uncle did not fight, my step-grandfather did not fight, my father in law did not fight against fascism during World War II in order to allow it to develop here. Shame on any leader who does not have the temerity and courage to condemn it for what it is. I demand that our Congressman Jeff Denham take a stand sooner rather than later. His silence has been deafening.

Laura A. Scarborough 

Manteca