Nana Royer on "Indivisible"

Three cheers for our friend Nana Royer for telling it like it is.

Posted March 1, 2017 12:02 am
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Indivisible: No party ties

Editor: The letter published in The Record on Feb. 23 regarding Indivisible St. Johns appears to have been written for the purpose of minimizing, dismissing, and undermining a grassroots movement which has adopted a strategy effective in the past.

Having attended Indivisibility meetings in St. Augustine from the beginning when a handful of people showed up, I see no evidence whatsoever of it being an organizing tool by anyone other than the awakened people of this town and county who are very alarmed and do not want to see a slide backwards to increased racism, loss of rights by minorities and women and a further degradation of life on the planet.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we are an impassioned group who, for many and perhaps for the first time, are waking up to the work and vigilance required to maintain a democracy and fend off an authoritarian regime.

Since when was advocacy for the rights of minorities, the disabled, women and children an unpatriotic, un-American activity?

Since when was advocacy for the health of our planet, including clean air and water not worthy of demanding attention?

Since when was the insistence on the worth and dignity of every person not a valued American ideal? These values are all part of my Unitarian Universalist convictions. I do not need someone nationally to organize and pay me for advocating such beliefs.

The energy, the effort of organizing events and the absolute determination of these truly patriotic individuals does not need a national organization to get them moving.

The policies of the new administration have given rise to large groups of people, including but not limited to Indivisible, determined to demonstrate their disagreement with the policies of this administration.

Indivisible simply provides a mechanism to effectively and constructively channel these efforts.


Nana Royer
St. Augustine
During the election last year and since, I've seen ideas unleashed that run counter to what I consider American Values. I walked across the Bridge of Lions on Monday with the Opposition. And I experienced a situation that reinforced why I'm taking an oppositional stance.
Walking down Menendez with our peaceful group, I observed a gaudy, 25' fake pirate boat being towed by an old pick-up. And on this boat, there were a few guys shouting and yelling, one with a bullhorn. And the line that froze me, the line I will remember for a long time, "those are the people who love Muslims!" He was talking to me. This was shouted as a slur,an insult. Well yes, I guess I do love Muslims. A neighboring business is run by a Muslim, he makes great pizzas and sometimes gives my dogs treats out the back door. I do love that guy. I do love my neighbors. I love even the fake pirate hurling insults from his fake pirate boat, who's temporarily lost his sense of true American values.