To the editor:
Protesters engaging in destruction fail Gandhi’s well-proven lesson: Nonviolent civil disobedience plainly reveals brutality of the opposition or authorities and legitimately garners public support for the principled protesters. For example, the images of carnage on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 remain fresh today. (“UC Berkeley—home of the free speech movement—finds itself under fire from left, right and Trump,” Feb. 2)
It takes more courage to stand peacefully in the face of brutality, thereby revealing it, than to violently silence those whose words are abhorrent. Bad ideas succumb only to better ones, not to violence.
Those opposing President Trump need more of our numbers to be thoughtful, get serious and own the principled, thoughtful side of the conflict while exposing the weakness and brutality of the administration. And when some among you veer into violence, walk away and let them be exposed too. Then the public shall see who are the adults in the room.
Much is at stake, for everyone.
David R. Fertig, Pasadena
Note from KBJ: Americans see where the weakness and brutality are, David. They're not in the White House.
