Friday, Jan. 15, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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The first time I entered the United States Capitol was as a 20-year-old student intern in 1973. In those days as an intern for Nevada Sen. Howard Cannon, I had access to all areas of that majestic building.
As I explored the building, symbolic of American greatness and idealism, I was drawn to President Abraham Lincoln’s catafalque, upon which he lay in state after his assassination. I saw the tomb originally built for George and Martha Washington. I hiked the 365 steps to the top of the dome on many occasions just to view the extraordinary city below. Every marble statue came to life as I walked by.
I was always aware of how much history was made within the walls of that building long before my family came to the United States as desperate immigrants escaping the horrors unfolding throughout Europe. I reveled in the knowledge that the granddaughter of those non-English-speaking immigrants was actually working in that hallowed bastion of liberty and freedom.
Twenty-six years later, I was honored to be sworn in as a member of the United States Congress. The Capitol became my life for the next 14 years. I revisited all of the historic places I had discovered as an intern and discovered even more hidden treasures within. There was never a day in those 14 years when I was not aware of the beauty, elegance and historical significance of that building. Never was there an evening, as I was leaving work, that I did not look back at the dome and say a prayer for the United States of America. That sight always took my breath away.
The events on the grounds and inside our Capitol this month were both heartbreaking and infuriating to me. No one has the right to defile that building that represents the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all freedom-loving people everywhere.
America is a great experiment in participatory democracy, freedom, liberty and self-governance. The Confederate flag has no place in the rotunda of the United States Capitol. T-shirts saying 6MWE (6 million wasn’t enough) and Camp Auschwitz have no place in the seat of our democracy. Destruction of our collective history as a nation cannot be tolerated. An angry, undisciplined mob has no right to destroy and demolish what this nation has created over the past 200-plus years.
What we witnessed in Washington, D.C., cannot be our legacy and our fate as a nation. We are, after all, a nation of laws. I swore an oath to our Constitution, not to a state or a political party or a person. I believe in the ideals of our country; indeed, my family and I have prospered because of them. I stand with my fellow Americans as we work together to form “a more perfect union,” to finally ensure that all of our citizens are afforded an equal opportunity to enjoy the rights, liberties and freedoms set forth in the Declaration of Independence.
We have reached a pivotal moment in our history where we must decide whether we allow hatred, bigotry and irrational anger to be our guiding principles or finally ensure that the aspirational ideals of our Founding Fathers become reality for all Americans regardless of race, religion, gender, or national origin.
As a proud American, I fear the former and pray for the latter.
Shelley Berkley served as the U.S. representative in Nevada’s 1st congressional district from 1999 to 2013. She currently serves as chief executive officer and senior provost for Touro University Western Division. Berkley sent this commentary to Touro faculty, staff and students recently, and it is reprinted here with permission.
