Saint Louis • St. Louis County Executive Sam Page dedicated his Monday morning press conference to recent antisemitic comments and behavior observed at the latest County Council Meeting last Tuesday.
The meeting, heavily attended by anti-vaxers and mask opposers heard commentary from dozens of St. Louis County residents about whether masks should be mandated once again by the County Health Authority or Sam Page’s office.
During the course of the meeting, commentaries comparing Mask Mandates to Hitler’s Germany, when Jews were made to wear yellow stars of David to identify them and draw public scorn. The practice resulted in the ultimate segregation of the Jewish population in all the countries occupied by Germany and which resulted in the extermination of over 5M jews in the infamous concentration camps.
The local Jewish community has not taken kindly to such remarks. Leaders of the Jewish faith community stood alongside Sam Page on Monday to condemn the behavior and the words.
«By daring to dismiss the horrors of the holocaust; by comparing the loss of freedom of over 11 million who were slaughtered, gassed, and burned including a million and a half children, comparing that to a mask mandate is not only disrespectful, it is dangerous,” said Rabbi Susan Talve, one of the invited guests to speak at Page’s press conference on Monday.
Talve also shared her discontent with the lack of action by the County Council’s President, Rita Heard-Days who did not at any time gavel down or object to such rhetoric being spoken in the public chamber.
Sam Page issued a call to the County Council’s Chairwoman Heard-Days and said he was confident she would listen.
The antisemitic and abusive behavior was observed in the County Council Chamber last Tuesday during an open public commentary prior to voting down the latest mask mandate. Amongst the attendees were controversial Mark McClusky and others the spoke at length about how their Constitutional and human rights were being refused via the mandates. Some compared the mandates to the NAZI regime.
A new American Extremism is taking over in rural areas of the United States stoked by the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Missouri is at the heart of a new «Confederate» leaning which puts old divisions at the forefront of American politics.
The definition of patriotism is being re-written and creates a greater and greater rift between Americans who no longer seem to be able to abide by a United stand against national issues.
The events of January 6th in Washington D.C. underscore this rift and show that some Americans believe that government mandates, even if for the common good, are no longer welcome. The great irony is that not much opposition was made to the government aid payments sent out over the past months, yet the opposition and mistrust against the effort to save lives have grown to dangerous levels.
If the type of banter that was heard in the County Council Meeting is left unchecked or marked down as «freedom of speech», the core values of this nation will be comparable to Hitler’s Germany, which then could easily be willed into existence again.
