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The Weavers' racist views in some people's minds (My nasty anonymous writer for one.) seems to justify the cold-blooded murder carried out by the Federal Government. It's the same rationale that led to the mass murder of the Branch Davidians. Well folks, exactly what views do you hold that the government doesn't like? I know what mine are. I'm pro-life, I support the second amendment, I'm Christian. All these things make me dangerous to a godless, secular culture that has called me a "domestic terrorist" even though I have never committed a violent act in my life. (Well, in the interests of full disclosure and transparency, I did occasionally have hair pulling fights with my sisters when we were kids. I couldn't compete in the scratching matches, though, because I bit my fingernails.)
Read the excerpt that's linked below and weep for our lost freedoms. And pray for a return to the godly principles on which this country was founded.
From Freedom to Slavery by Gerry Spence explaining why he decided to defend Randy Weaver.
While Gerry Spence's letter is beautifully written, it does tend to mislead a bit about Randy Weaver's beliefs.
ReplyDeleteMr. Weaver was not a member of any white supremacist group, nor did he advocate against Jews.
Mr.Spence also left out the detail that the reason Randy did not show up for his original court date was because he was notification had the wrong date listed.
I live in North Idaho just spitting distance from where the Weavers lived. We were horrified by what happened and most of us still carry the scars of that horrible time.
While I'm a great admirer of Gerry Spence, his letter was more about how tolerant he is and used what he perceived as Weavers shortcomings to bolster that perception.
By the end of the letter Randy is seen as some raving lunatic white supremacist who burned crosses on the lawns of Jews.
None of that was true.
Thanks so much for your comment and insights, Adrienne. I read similar comments about the case, but one person wrote that the mistakes may have been due to the fact that Spence had not yet spent time with Randy. I didn't check the date of the letter vs. the date of his contacts. I'm interested to read the book. However you look at it, it was absolutely shameful. "Racists" now, "intolerant homophobes" next.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome (and thanks for ignoring the extra words in my comment. Duh)
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought since Spence recounted his first meeting with Weaver. Thing is - he's a very intelligent defense lawyer who showed up for an initial meeting with a preconceived idea of who Randy Weaver was and what he believed. That's unacceptable.
We were inundated by images of Waco, but not so of Ruby Ridge. If you were to see it in person and try to imagine full size army tanks driving up the little dirt road in the woods leading to the Weaver cabin, you would be chilled to the bone.
This is a pretty good summation of what actually happened plus some videos which will give you idea of what the Selkirk Mountains look like (gorgeous.) The vids are from 2007 so the interviews with Randy are a bit dated.
http://allfaith.com/prophecy/rubyridge.html