Even though I disagree with the outcome of the presidential election from the widespread voter fraud I saw speaking to voters impacted with irregularities here in Nevada, what happened on Capitol Hill does not represent the platform of putting America First. Trump supporters in D.C. and cities nationwide gathered together to protect their freedom of speech, assembly, and right to assemble in a peaceful manner.
We are a nation of law and order, there needs to be consequences of the actions of individuals inciting violence by storming the Hill. Whoever the small group of people are that instigated the attacks needs to be investigated and punished for their actions. The misconception lies within the narrative that those perpetrators that do not represent Fil-Am conservatives, who believe in preserving our freedom and values.
Violence is never acceptable in enacting change. Healing from the political divisions from both sides start with honest discussions about improving community relations by finding a common ground. Moving forward, we need to continue to investigate voter irregularities in the past election and then secure future elections by implementing Voter ID. Fil-Am conservatives will continue to have a role in policy making, because our voices and concerns matter.
Lisa Noeth, Las Vegas
Fil-Am Conservative Commentator and Nevada Young Republicans Co-Chair
Current media narrative buries hard truths
I can’t find the right words to express the severity of insidious and overt white supremacy we experienced on January 6th.
On one hand, we witnessed the storming of the Capitol by self-proclaimed white nationalists. The confederate flag — a symbol of the United States’ racist, white supremacist beginnings — was paraded for the first time within its halls. At least five people have died as a result of the siege, an attack planned for weeks in advance on online forums, and encouraged by President Trump as he finished a speech in front of the White House.
With many rioters sporting red, Make America Great Again-hats — headwear that, for some, have carried the symbolic weight of the KKK’s infamous white hoods — the power of white supremacy was made apparent not only because of who was in the crowd, but also by the very fact that the mobbing of the Capitol was let to happen at all, when much more security and surveillance has been placed on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color activists at many other times, online and in real life.
Not only was all of this frightening to witness from a visceral level, but I also knew that these stories would cloud some important truths:
First, that by focusing on predominantly white faces and stories, people would forget that white supremacy is an ideology; white supremacists are not just a group of white people. White supremacy is a belief that anyone — of any race — can adopt, in which they find value in systems that have been set up to benefit white people and disadvantage those who are not white. Filipino Trump supporters were complicit in this attack as well.
Second, just hours before, Georgia elected its first Black and Jewish senators, a feat significant because of the decades-long organizing of Black Georgians and other people of color in the south, and White supremacy took Black power off the airwaves.
Third, by focusing on Washington D.C., those of us in other cities may have distanced ourselves away from white supremacist violence. In reality, in my own diverse city of Los Angeles, Trump supporters harassed and violated a Black woman during our city’s own Make America Great Again rally.
Fourth, that not everyone is even in a place to know or care about what’s happening in DC (or Georgia). Too many of us are merely trying to figure out how to survive today. The COVID pandemic continues to devastate our communities, particularly Black people and people of color, on top of housing injustices that continue to make LA county home to over 66,000 unhoused Angelenos. This, too, is the outcome of white supremacist laws that have pervaded our country since its birth. We are living in multiple pandemics at once. There aren’t vaccines for all of them.
The morning after Trump was elected in 2016, I cried in bed because as a queer immigrant of color, it felt like the world hated me. January 6, 2021 revived those feelings, reminding me again how much of an aspiration safety in the U.S. is.
Every day, I feel more urgent about exhausting all possibilities I can to contribute to the complete eradication of white supremacy, racism, & anti-Blackness in all forms. I’m thankful to know so many of you are also trying to do the same.
Godfrey Plata, Los Angeles
Former California Assembly Candidate
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