On September 17, Constitution Day, I watched a recently recorded official press conference that was yet another disturbing event, for me, in these troubling times.

I saw Jeffrey S. Gray, County Attorney for Utah County, on national TV quoting statements given to police regarding Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s death. Mr. Gray read that Robinson had recently become “more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented.” Gray followed that with “…Robinson began to date his roommate, a biological male, who was transitioning genders.”

The authorities should know that these parts of the statements, true or not, are irrelevant to the case and completely legal things. Announcing this publicly to a mass audience can only serve to stoke fears, hate and possibly incite more violence. I fear that it is the intention of many prominent Republican aligned government officials, led by Donald Trump, to exploit events to further expand and cement their powers.

 Things are getting exponentially more tense, scary and belligerent in this country. People who are “other” have long been easy targets for victimization, ostracization, and worse. America has been a work in progress since the beginning, ever striving to have a “more perfect union.”

The United States has always been a diverse mix of people, identities, religions, personal practices, -you name it. Some groups are actively working to change that or to treat some people differently than they themselves would be treated. If we don’t all have equality under the law and civility with each other, we won’t be the UNITED States any longer.

 I’m just a fairly average middle-aged white guy. But I have a strong personal code that I can sum up in two words: “Be honorable.”  I’m working towards a future where our government and society at large is also honorable.

-Karl H, active Cooper River Indivisible member