Meeting for the first time since the Capitol insurrection, the Morristown council on Tuesday unanimously condemned the “horrific siege” that took the life of Capitol police officer and New Jersey native Brian Sicknick.
Crafted by Democratic office holders in Morris County, the resolution denounced the violent attempt to overturn the election as an “assault on the core values of our democracy.”
But the most ringing condemnation came from Councilwoman Sandi Mayer, whose father, a German Jew, lost most of his family in the Holocaust.
“I wanted to address those that carried the Confederate flag…flags that have no business inside our hallowed halls of democracy. Flags that do not represent our citizens, a flag that is offensive and a disgrace,” Mayer told the council via Zoom.
“I also want to address those small minded, or no-minded, that wore Nazi-emblazoned attire. On this day before international Holocaust Remembrance Day, to wear a shirt saying, ‘six million wasn’t enough,’ or that Auschwitz was some kind of camp, is in one word, disgusting.
“It was so offensive to see this in our capital.
“I hope no one ever has to look into their father’s haunted eyes because he doesn’t know where his parents, aunts, uncles, cousins were murdered.
“But knowing their final days and years were spent experiencing complete inhumanity.
“Never having a grave site to visit because they were gassed to death, and then their bodies were dumped into a mass fire pit.
“This resolution was written to address and condemn those cockroaches.
“And we can as a nation and community address the outcome by supporting our democracy — and not ever forgetting how close we came to losing it.”
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Councilman David Silva, pastor of the Centro Biblico Church and a Colombian immigrant, said his congregation prayed for “reconciliation, peace and unity” after the riot.
Many needs of the American people are being ignored, Silva said, “due to the vicious political spirit” that pervades the nation’s capital.
We must reject violence, he said, and remember George Washington’s warning “that partisanship will ruin public liberty.”
I’d say the needs of Morristown residents are being ignored. Perhaps they should focus more on the people who elected them instead of rich developers who are having their way with the town. Just a thought.