Our Viewpoint

With a nation in turmoil and crisis, people are beginning to stand up across the country. Even in Sanders County, people are exercising their first amendment rights with rallies and protests.

In Thompson Falls last Saturday, people from many different sides of the social and political spectrum gathered so that their voices could be heard. For Americans, protesting is a right given purely by existence. The right of the people to speak out against oppression and violence is one of the things that makes this country so great and perhaps why it has lasted so long. However, with a time so turbulent, many are taking advantage of the emotion in the air and riots are claiming small and large communities nationwide. Thompson Falls on the other hand, displayed a show that should be echoed from sea to shining sea.

As I walked between the two sides I found not a difference of opinion, but a commonality shared that even they did not realize. That phrase, “All lives matter,” I heard 37 times from every side of the road. I started counting after about three people.

The protest was peaceful. However, fear created by panic, biased reporting and extreme activist groups seems to have blinded many from the basic truth that we are all in the same boat with one another, and that the only missing piece is understanding. While interviewing the two sides, I saw one single group of Americans, divided by a thin yellow line and some asphalt. I do believe that if the two sides had taken the time to find out what they had in common, instead of standing apart across that street, that a bigger difference may have been made than was made standing alone.

— John Dowd