I read Mr. Christopher Acker’s letter of 5/20/23 (‘The world turned upside down’), and I felt sorry for him. Imagine living in a time when his country is “dying due to the actions of the progressive, socialist, communists trying to overthrow our nation.” It must be tough knowing our destruction is being caused by boys and girls not using the restrooms that Mr. Acker has determined are appropriate for them.
Mr. Acker blames the decline of America in part on same-sex relationships that are “put on display by towns and cities,” instead of being “kept quiet and downplayed by the public.” Imagine! Today LGBTQ+ citizens have the audacity to make Mr. Acker feel uncomfortable by being regular people in relationship with each other, just like straight people.
Mr. Acker worries about critical race theory being taught in our schools. Let me reassure him that CRT is only taught in certain college-level courses and that it is not a part of any secondary school curriculum. But maybe school teachers should mention slavery, Jim Crow, and Tulsa as factual incidents that have had an impact on our nation’s development. That’s just history, not CRT.
Mr. Acker’s letter went on about his imagined destruction of America because of several other things he doesn’t like: enfranchising 18-year-olds, sending money to Ukraine for weapons to defend themselves, and let’s not forget all those “illegal” aliens coming here to seek asylum and escape starvation and violence for their families. He doesn’t seem to see the difference between them and the Russian invasion in Europe. But, personally, I haven’t heard or read anything about waves of Latinos advancing in tanks on our southern states. Does Mr. Acker know something the rest of us don’t?
Mr. Acker repeated his belief that “We need to make America great again.” Again? I happen to think that America is already great, but that it also has flaws. The greatest obstacle to our cultural advancement is when people like Mr. Acker cling to a past that was exclusionary, unjust, and white heteronormative. I get why that world has turned upside down for them: Their day is fading fast, and change is mostly a one-way street. Like a more modern song goes, “It’s the dawn of another age.”
Tony Marconi
Delaware
