“Jan. 6 was the best of times,” Mr. Schumer said in a recent interview in his office, where he cracked open a Diet Coke. “And it was the worst of times.”
Racist graffiti hits close to home for Smithfield family
Three generations of the Porter family trace the townâs steps forward and backward on race
By Edward Fitzpatrick Globe Staff,Updated February 5, 2021, 6:00 a.m.
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Kim Ziegelmayer, her son Ray Porter, and her former husband Kevin Porter stand next to the pillars of the bridge along the Stillwater Scenic Trail in Smithfield, R.I., where Ziegelmayer found racist graffiti, which has since been painted over.Lane Turner/Globe Staff
SMITHFIELD, R.I. â Hattie Mae Burroughs-Porter remembers the day, back in the 1940s, when she passed by two women while walking to school in Greensboro, Alabama. By the time she arrived home, someone had told her older sister that the young Black girl had refused to step off the sidewalk for the two white ladies.
wealth or in poverty, we are all exceptional in our commonly held yet fierce devotion to our country. could you hear the boos, and were you surprised by them? well, i couldn t hear much. i was told about it afterwards, but it was amazing. that speech given with any other president, with any other audience would have been cheered. it s not controversial language to say we re all americans. it s not controversial language to reach out to others who might not be exactly like you, and so the fact that people didn t like it speaks poorly of them, not of what i said in the speech. they even when i said we should have rule of law, i was heard booed. when i talked about sullivan ballou, a great civil war patriot who gave his life to his country and said there are some things greater than ourselves, there were cat calls. wow. what kind what kind of situation is that? and, you know, i have to say something. the president-elect ought to lead.
disabilities or do not, in wealth or in poverty, we are all exceptional in our commonly held yet fierce devotion to our country. could you hear the boos and were you surprised by them? well, i couldn t hear much. i was told about it afterwards, but it was amazing. that speech given with any other president, with any other audience would have been cheered. it s not controversial language to say we re all americans. it s not controversial language to reach out to others who might not be exactly like you, and so the fact that people didn t like it speaks poorly of them, not of what i said in the speech. they even when i said we should have rule of law i was heard booed. when i talked about sullivan ballou, a great civil war patriot who gave his life to his country and said there are some things greater than ourselves there were cat calls. wow.
that nothing that omnipotence can break. and yet, my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. sullivan ballou gave his life on the battlefield a week later at the first battle of bull run. it is because sullivan ballou encounters and countless others believe in something other than themselves and were willing to sacrifice for it that we stand today in the full blessings of liberty, in the greatest country on earth. and that spirit lives on in each of us, americans whose families have been here for generations and those who have just arrived. and i know our best days are you have to come. i urge all americans to read ballou s full letter.