Hope Wisdom & Illustration From A Red Place

In a time when democracy is under threat in America, a time in America when overt racism is reappearing, and a time in America when it’s the best of times for some and the worst of times for others economically, an example of the hope that created America, evidence of the greatness of America, and an illustration of how America can continue to be great has emerged from a place, based on the current political landscape, where hope, wisdom and illustration would least likely be found, a red place.

In January 2023, 2 weeks before a red place city election in a deeply red state, American White Connie Vickers made what was for her a shocking discovery, emphasis on what was shocking for her because Vickers is a rare Democrat in a Republican red city, and what shocked her is increasingly being embraced in all of America’s Donald Trump Republican red places. What shocked Vickers was a photo she came across online of Judd Blevins, a candidate for her red place city Enid, Oklahoma’s City Council, holding a tiki torch while marching alongside an angry mob of men on the University of Virginia campus shouting “ Jews will not replace us!”