They missed this one

Don’t tell anyone, but the US Postal Service is sending out magazines with a lot of pictures of African Americans, Native Americans, and Women. The Spring 2025 USA Philatelic Catalogue of Commemorative Stamps shows diversity, elevates historical characters and in general reveals a history of America, much of which MAGA is trying to be erased.

We got the magazine, because I asked for John Lewis stamps last Christmas. I also got Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I use these, along with my Women Vote stamps that celebrate the 19^th Amendment. There is a stamp that reads Pow Wows: celebrating Native American Culture. Another is a picture of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan have a stamp. There are stamps for John Wooden and Pete Seeger. There is a Hank Aaron stamp and a stamp celebrating the First Continental Congress – “We ask but for Peace, Liberty and Safety.”

The DEI police will choke when they see this magazine. I can see it now. By fall, all the diverse stamps will be destroyed, and the newest stamps will be red with a line that says, MAGA forever. Then there will come a stamp with Donald Trump’s fist raised and his ear bloodied. That’s likely the photo that will end up on currency and coinage. He who likes graven images of himself appears willing to trample most everything to have his way.

The US Postal Service is not the deep state, but somebody was asleep at the switch when this magazine was published. Heads are going to roll.

When I scroll through the magazine that elevates heroes, and events from our history, I think about how much history is being destroyed at the Smithsonian. The history of slavery in America will remain our history and how we were, regardless of how MAGA works to erase it. Our not teaching and knowing about it will only leave us blind and ignorant. Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, so I hear.

Think about how much science is being shut down - labs and disease studies unfunded. We are getting stuck in reverse. We are trying to recapture something that never really was. I think Nazi Germany tried that too, making Germany white again. “Ethnic cleansing” killed millions of innocents and sent Germany into history with a sinful stain.  

As measle cases rise among children, I think we must be the stupidest people on the planet. Who would dismiss a vaccine that has efficacy in eradicating measles, while children get sick and some die? That’s not only stupid, it’s also cruel. A page of Jonas Salk stamps sells for $17.50. Take that vaccine deniers. You can still buy stamps with Robert F. Kennedy, Sr’s picture. It’s doubtful Junior will merit a stamp.

We watch as museums are purged to reflect only white men’s history. We see innocent people being snatched off the street just because they are brown or have tattoos and then essentially thrown away. Surely there is something in our collective conscience that says STOP. And a magazine comes from the US Postal Service that reflects who we really are, or who we have been and it reminds me that our heritage as Americans is worth fighting for.

Through rain, sleet, snow and hail the mail must go through. People will make collections of commemorative stamps that tell a history of American greatness, American diversity, American innovation, all of which are under attack now.

People around the country are speaking out, protesting the repression, the cruelty, the risk of financial ruin and a whole plethora of issues across the spectrum of our life together. They are saying, enough is enough!

Enough of the banning of books. Enough of telling people they can’t even use words like “diversity,” “climate change,” and “sustainability.” Enough of the cruelty in firing people by email and ordering them to leave en masse with all their belongings in a bank box. Downsizing a government by slashing and burning is just plain stupid.

The mandates from on high are sickening. All of us need to join in the protests and challenges to our legislators at all levels. Who knows if they will ever realize that our elected officials do not serve at the pleasure of the president. We elected them to represent and serve us. It is refreshing when some of them actually do.

Stamps may be all that remains of the American story. Go to your local post office and get a copy of the magazine. Show it to your children and grandchildren. Tell them, “this is America, land of the free and home of the brave.”  

Buy stamps, write letters and spread the story. Preserve our history one letter at a time. Small things matter.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com