On December 3rd a small group of right-wing extremists, indoctrinated by an even smaller group of zealots, declared war on Moore County. Their belief that a 2,000 year-old book written by a handful of disciples gives them permission to sacrifice the lives of thousands of innocent Americans is giving cover to their real mission of silencing free speech, free thought and free will.
You were warned but you chose to ignore it. It wasn’t like we didn’t see it coming.
Many of you preferred to look the other way – to ignore the threats both subtle and overt. Everyone from our Mayberry Sheriff to our local Onion editorial board underestimated the danger. Even those elected to the highest state positions were warned but laughed it all off.
The people you supported, you voted for; the ones you applauded and marched with, whose signs you carried and stuck in the ground, the ones you not only enabled but encouraged - they declared war on us, on you.
They have made Moore County into a war zone and made you the collateral damage of their war games.
You ignored the rhetoric about military discipline and making Moore County uncomfortable for those who disagree. You even ignored the blatant and public threats of violence because you did not think it was directed at you. But you were wrong.
Don’t blame this on anyone but yourselves. Those who supported them, who prayed with them and those who remained silent or prayed for them; you must accept the blame.
We all know who these criminals are, their names stretch from A to Z; they hide behind bibles and microphones.
You invited them into our county, put them in charge of our children, handed our safety to their deputies and now they have entered our homes. They have closed our gas stations and grocery stores, shut down our communications and left us to freeze in the dark. You volunteered to be foot soldiers and to offer your parents, your children and your neighbors to march along side of you and catch the shrapnel of their cruelty as they plot under the drone of their generators.
These people have traded their brown shirts for white shirts or t-shirts of black and yellow. Don’t be fooled when they denounce these heinous acts. They will tell you they don’t condone it but they invited these terrorists to come and you let them in. You threw open the door and turned on the lights. They made only small secrets of who they are.