This is the time to do what is right
I believe most elected officials can share one moment that pushed them to take the step to get actively engaged in the community or run for office. For me, that moment was the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, where neo-Nazis and white supremacists marched in broad daylight brandishing swastikas and confederate flags chanting “death to Jews.”
As a mother who has raised children to celebrate and embrace their Jewish heritage, and the wife of a man with family that perished in the Holocaust, I was not only disgusted but scared that there were people with such hate in their heart who claimed to love our country and what it stands for.
In the New Hampshire House of Representatives, anti-semitism has shown its ugly face, not once, but twice in the last two months. Rep. Dawn Johnson (R – Laconia) and Rep. James Spillane (R – Deerfield) both shared offensive anti-semitic and racist cartoons on social media. One post was shared from The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi website, and the other was posted on Parler, a social media site that was instrumental in coordinating the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Democratic caucuses from the NH House and Senate have issued clear statements calling on both representatives to resign. Although Governor Sununu and GOP Speaker of the House, Sherman Packard, both issued statements after the first incident saying hate speech is wrong and has no place in our state, I call on both of them to join me and many other Granite Staters who are demanding their resignation for behavior unbecoming of a representative.
This is not the time to play politics and count the GOP majority. This is the time to do what is right and be clear that we hold our elected officials to a higher standard. New Hampshire is better than this.