BREAKING: Actor Ben Stiller just posted this letter to America:
“I love our country. But, like so many of us, I’m concerned about the future of our democracy.
We’ve now seen the violent murder of American citizens, killed in cold blood in broad daylight by masked ICE agents. These were our neighbors, their lives ended by armed militias entering our communities with impunity. They were denied due process in life and dignity in death by an administration who refuted the reality the world saw, shifting blame to the victims and creating false narratives about their lives and those fateful days.
The Framers of our Constitution believed in checks and balances to power, adding the Bill of Rights specifically to protect individual liberties from potential government overreach. And yet here we are. Innocent people are being harassed, separated from their families, and in some cases killed.
Peaceful protest is a constitutionally protected form of free speech that is essential to our existence as a democracy. We have the right to disagree with the actions of the government we elect. The First Amendment also names and protects the freedom of the press. And yet journalists and political commentators have been arrested. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.
Our elected representatives, from the President and members of Congress to the people they appoint and approve, have a responsibility to act with integrity and honesty. To uphold our ideals and values as a nation. To not lie to us, in the face of the plain facts.
We must demand that they represent the expressed will of the people they serve, including removing ICE from our streets. We must demand justice and an end to this lethal chaos.
I believe we can reverse this slide toward division and hate. Facing this moment with a return to empathy and love for one another might sound naive, but it’s ultimately what will move our country forward and out of this.”