I have questions.

  1. How has Sen. Chris Murphy, who has made gun control his whole personality, not demanded a ceasefire? He has spoken so clearly about how devastated he was following Sandy Hook, when 20 children were murdered in an elementary school. So far, over 4,000 children have been killed in the Israel-Hamas War, which began just over one month ago. His should have been the first voice saying no more guns or money for weapons be sent to the Middle East.
  2. How is it that this elected government employee has not yet had time to meet with constituents who are calling for a ceasefire? We are all busy. Pick a date and get it in the calendar. 
  3. How is it that when 25 of these constituents as an interfaith coalition arrived at his Hartford office in November, his aides would not so much as open the door to receive handwritten letters? There were no bullhorns. Nobody was vandalizing property. Participants wore masks for preventing the spread of Covid and other illnesses, but nobody’s face was completely covered in a way that might come off as menacing. The goal of the day was not to get arrested; participants simply wanted to be heard and to get their letters to their elected official. Many of these activists were Jews– some descendants of Holocaust survivors and some with Israeli family members. There was nothing about the group to indicate that any or all of them posted a threat to anyone’s safety. 
  4. Why were over ten police vehicles sent to the Colt Armory when the activists — who’d been denied a meeting, phone call, or even a hand out the door to receive letters — merely stood in the corridor, reading letters asking Murphy to push for a ceasefire? Having entered the building in a normal and orderly way by ringing a doorbell and walking in, their biggest crime was singing off-key. Prior to police arriving, nobody else in the building made contact to ask them to lower their voices, make space in the hallway, or disperse. Someone took the coward’s approach by summoning the police, who stood on either side of the group placing themselves between activists and the exits, some taking the “tough guy” stance with hands on their belts. It is surreal to be listening to a person read his letter about Christ-like behavior while having fully-armed, uniformed officers push by in a narrow hallway. There was a group calling for an end to violence, while simultaneously being non-verbally and passive-aggressively threatened with the possibility of violence. I have no other way to interpret the presence of armed police at a peaceful occasion.
  5. In Hartford, we routinely hear about how there are allegedly not enough police to deal with crime, yet the force managed to spare quite a few officers for this occasion. How does a small peaceful action where nobody’s behavior even hinted at the possibility of an altercation warrant this kind of response?

No arrests were made, but that’s hardly the point.

We are taught that there are proper channels to use.
We’re told that to be heard, we should vote.
Okay.
We’re told to communicate our concerns with our elected officials.
What does it mean when it feels like politicians aren’t interested in forging a relationship with their constituents? What is the purpose of maintaining an office in Connecticut’s capital city if you’re keeping doors closed? And will Senator Murphy (or his staff) bother reading any of the constituents’ letters that had to be slid under his office door because nobody had the respect to simply open it?

Feel free to ask Sen. Murphy when he plans to align his values, or at minimum, meet with constituents.