How would we respond?

The news from Minnesota this week has been particularly alarming, especially in light of the state’s “second home” status in our family.

I bend over backwards to avoid pontificating on national topics in these pages. You’re overwhelmed with information and opinion on those subjects as it is, and I have no particular expertise or experience that makes my opinion more important than the hundreds of experts who are already feeding our inputs with data.

But I do feel obligated to speak when there’s a need to ask ourselves how we would respond if faced with the same atrocities.

Yes, that’s a strong word, I realize. But the militarization of our law enforcement has never been tolerated in America, and that’s clearly a nose that’s being poked into the tent.

We were promised removal of the “worst of the worst.” Since day one of this process, there’s been little evidence of focus on violent felons.

U.S. citizens have been violently detained by masked, anonymous commandos and in some cases, “disappeared” for days. Last week, a woman was shot in the head in her car for allegedly trying to run over an immigration agent. Different videos provide conflicting perspectives, but nonetheless, our Department of Justice has already stated that no further investigation is necessary.

Do we understand just how unprecedented that is? Is there not anyone with friends of Hispanic descent (as most of us in Belton have) that doesn’t stop cold at what they’re seeing?

Here’s how we need to look at this in our region, which is known for its conservative, pro law-and-order mindset. As a journalist, it’s how I was trained to view political issues in our form of government. Imagine the pendulum swings back as a result of what we’re seeing now (it always does), and an extreme liberal not only wins the presidency but that viewpoint claims the majority in both houses of Congress as well. What’s the first thing those in fear of that possibility will point to? Of course, “they’re coming to get our guns.”

Don’t laugh – it could happen. There are (very liberal) interpretations of the Second Amendment that would allow government to severely limit private ownership of firearms.

So how would that “collection” process happen? Exactly how we see this playing out, right now. Instead of ICE, the vests would be marked ATF.

And whatever we deem to be “acceptable” now, is exactly what we would be subject to should the tables be turned.

Never assume that you will be treated any differently than how you’ve allowed your fellow citizen to be treated should political sentiment changes – as it always does. Finally, do not allow yourself to believe that what you’re seeing on television now won’t happen here, or within our area.

The Washington Post recently broke a story detailing ICE plans to lease warehouse space in eight cities (including Kansas City) to hold up to 80,000 detainees at a time.

We have warehouses in our neighborhood – many of them. We also have quick industrial access to a multinational rail line connecting directly to Latin America.

That’s not a palatable vision, I would think, to any American.

• • •

The best indicator of the future is always history.

That’s in addition to the pure entertainment value that can come from realizing that those who came before us in communities we know intimately weren’t all that different than us.

It really wasn’t a black-and-white world back then, as I recently discovered working on digitizing my dad’s color slides from the 1950s, 60s and 70s – a project I’ve been looking forward to getting involved with.

Kodak color processing from that time was truly on the cutting edge. As a result, photos of me as a toddler end up looking remarkably like current photos of my grandkids. As my granddaughter remarked this weekend, I did apparently look much the same as my grandson at that time, a striking realization in our case.

But rarely does anyone look at the typical grainy gray print from that era and draw similarities to today.

This is what makes the study of history fascinating when done with a group, such as the Belton Historical Society, which focuses exclusively on our community and how the world affected us.

The Sunday after next, Jan. 25, the afternoon the AFC Championship will be captured by Denver, Houston, Buffalo or New England (not Kansas City), the Society will host its quarterly general meeting, open to the public, at the museum in the old city hall, 512 Main, at 2:30 p.m.

This meeting will be highlighted by a presentation given by local historian and NCH history columnist Jeff Larkey, who will discuss the development of the Neff Lake area and the excitement that generated at the time.

• • •

At the risk of making a friend feel old, I’d be remiss if I didn’t alert our community to a tremendous offering now available to all of us for free, thanks to the combined efforts of former Kansas City Star employees and the Kansas City Public Library, more than 300,000 Star photos covering decades of this region’s history have been published at kcstarphotos.org.

Be careful, though. This rabbit hole could “disappear” you for hours, if not days.

There’s a search window at the stop that will take you literally anywhere in seconds, from the 1976 Republican National Convention to the 1988 explosion on the U.S. 71 construction site that killed six firefighters.

A quick search of “Belton” retrieves pages and pages of entries, including a 1968 photo of the Belton Historical Presbyterian Church, just steps from our office, in recognition of its conversion from its long history as the Belton Christian Church.

And perhaps most valuable in my mind is the 445-photo archive of the work of Belton’s Joe Ledford, who devoted decades to his craft at the Star, eventually becoming photo editor and training countless others to capture history as it occurs.

Now in the real estate field, it’s nothing short of amazing to see the breadth of subject matter Ledford covered in this archive, which extends from the 1980s into the 2000s. From the Chiefs and Royals to college sports, from politics and accidents to feel-good events, he was there and he made photos to preserve those fleeting moments with stunning expertise.

I’ll stop short of lamenting the loss of this medium, which covered local communities and our largest cities with a depth that cannot be approached in today’s world. But at least the memories have been preserved. They’ll take you back to times you either cherish or forsake. But you’ll feel something.