It seems the only people pushing back against vandals and extremists are President Trump and the American people. Except for a handful of congressmen and senators Republicans in Washington have remained silent.
What started with the tearing down of confederate statues turned into destroying/defacing veterans memorials, statues dedicated to women’s rights, and abolitionists. In light of extremists vandalizing monuments, a group of veterans took matters into their own hands when they heard rumors that a Veterans Memorial in Wilson County, Lebanon, Tennessee was being targeted.
The vets once again grabbed their rifles and started standing guard with the permission of the authorities who oversee the memorial. Veteran, Keith Sikora told WKRN-TV that he started keeping watch a week ago. “A show of force can be a very powerful deterrent” but that he and his fellow veterans won’t “fight unless we have to.”
Veteran Joe Hester added that he isn’t standing guard “to promote violence, I’m not here against any race whatsoever. I’m for all good people and all good things in this country and preserving them.”
Both Sikora and Hester served in the United States Marine Corps and explained that the memorial is very special to them.
“It’s a big target because who else gave more for this country than the ones who gave their life?” Sikora asked WKRN. “And if you’re on the other side, and you hate this country — the way they’re portraying the way they hate it — this is the best target to hit.”
Hester said that “all in the name of being against racism” — have been “attacking innocent people, burning down cities, destroying communities and intimidating innocent people” and it’s “angered me so much that I’m tired of sitting back and talking about it.”
“I went and served this country for the country and everybody in it,” Sikora added to WKRN. “My Marines and I, we’re not black, we’re not white, Mexican, or Chinese. We all call each other green. … That’s how we were trained, that’s how we think, that’s the way we are now. We don’t stand against any particular race; we stand for them, all of them, unified, and equally. We stand behind the Constitution that all men are created equal, and we will fight and die for that.”
Over the weekend more than a dozen veterans stood watch over the memorial that represents those that gave their life for this country.
Sikora said that the activists “aren’t coming here with just words. They are people who are trying to tear down this country. That’s what I stand against.”
