BRATTLEBORO-For many of us, recent events have been quite fraught. The violent attack on a man who was exercising his Constitutional right to campaign for public office on July 13 was shocking, as was the death of a man who simply came to the event to listen.
The president and the candidate have both called for unity, civility, and respect in our interactions with one another.
On a recent evening, I was standing on the side of the road in West Brattleboro talking with a family member, when a car loudly took off across the street as the driver yelled "Hey, Jew!" out the window. Nobody else was in sight, so it was clearly intended as an epithet directed at us.
Soon afterward, a large pickup truck drove by, and the driver blared the horn at full volume just as it passed us. As my hearing is sensitive, that was something of an assault.
And here in Vermont? Where civility and respect were traditionally practiced among us?
Windham County has been our home for half a century - our safe place. Or is it any more?
Ingrid Longo
Brattleboro
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.