Letter: If not all who attended the DC rally are insurrectionists, consider that not all BLM supporters are criminals

I just reread the Mikkel Pates story on a group of North Dakotans who attended the Jan. 6th demonstration in Washington D.C. In it, Shawn Kramer says that he is "not an insurrectionist." And he isn't. He had the good sense to leave the demonstration before the violence started.

But perhaps this demonstration can serve as an epiphany for all of us. Kramer is upset that he is labeled an insurrectionist because some people at the demonstration actually were insurrectionists in that they stormed the Capitol and attempted to find members of Congress to arrest, try and execute. The noose with Vice President Pence's name attached to it is evidence of this. Thanks to the Capitol police, they failed in that part of their mission.

Now perhaps Kramer and his fellow conservatives can understand that most participants in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer were not criminals either, but just frustrated people trying to get their point across.

Both demonstrations got out of hand with some elements looting and burning property last summer and other elements breaking into the Capitol on January 6th destroying and stealing government property. In both instances innocent people lost their lives. Unfortunately the actions of a few are generalized to the whole mass of participants. It's not fair, but that's the way things generally work.

Now it's time for both sides to actually listen to the grievances of the other side and figure out a course of action that is at least partially acceptable to both.

As Forum Editor Matthew Von Pinnon pointed out in an online forum, "Ask for what you want and you might get what you need."

I also totally agree that the national press needs to come to the rural heartland and interview the inhabitants here. We may not be as numerous as the coastal residents but they ignore us at their own peril. Ignoring us skews polling numbers and causes anger to boil over into violence on both ends of the political spectrum.

Let's listen to each other with a bit of empathy and attempt to create a path forward to a more perfect union.

Willard Hiebert lives in Moorhead.

This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.