Today, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent published an op-ed article by Richard Grayson, "LD 7 House candidate condemns racist attacks against incumbent":
OPINION — As a candidate for state representative in Legislative District 7, I feel an obligation to say something about the racist attacks directed at Rep. Walt Blackman. They have greatly disturbed me.
Because we are on the same ballot, I guess that Walt Blackman is my political opponent. I have many disagreements with him, and I expect to continue having them. But none of those disagreements makes racist attacks against him acceptable.
Rep. Blackman recently called on elected officials and community leaders across the political spectrum to condemn social media posts depicting Black Americans as apes and using other degrading racial stereotypes. He also made an important distinction: defending the First Amendment does not require us to remain silent about hateful ideas. I agree.
I also want to be honest about something less comfortable. I sometimes have disparaging thoughts about people with whom I strongly disagree politically. I suspect I’m not unusual in that respect. Politics can make us angry, and anger can make it remarkably easy to reduce another human being to a caricature: an idiot, a monster, a fool, a threat. I have “said” things about others in my head that can and should make me ashamed.
But there is a difference between having an uncharitable thought and allowing contempt to become a principle of political discourse.
History gives us plenty of warnings. During Reconstruction, President Andrew Johnson’s bitter opposition to the Radical Republicans became intertwined with his opposition to political rights for formerly enslaved people. His public attacks on his congressional opponents became increasingly inflammatory.
More recently, President Donald Trump’s 2019 statement that four Democratic congresswomen of color should “go back” to the places from which they came was formally entered into the Congressional Record amid congressional condemnation.
The point isn’t that today’s politicians are equivalent to politicians of the past. It is that words matter. When political opponents are portrayed as less worthy, less American, less human or as members of some inherently inferior group, we move away from political argument and toward dehumanization.
And dehumanization is dangerous precisely because it makes cruelty easier.
Civility does not mean being bland, polite or unwilling to fight for what we believe. Democracy requires vigorous disagreement. We should criticize policies, records, statements and ideas, sometimes passionately.
But we should leave the person’s basic humanity outside the argument.
I don’t care whether the person being attacked is my opponent, my ally or someone I’ve never met. The standard should be the same.
I am not making this statement because I always agree with Walt Blackman. I am making it because I often disagree with him and because I believe political disagreement is worth having only if we can have it without demeaning one another.
Our opponents are still human beings. So are we. All of us, including myself, need to try harder to remember this.
That ought to be a very low bar for political discourse. But perhaps, at this particular moment, it is a bar worth publicly defending.
Richard Grayson is the Green Party candidate for Legislative District 7’s House seat, which includes Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Flagstaff, Page, Winslow, Show Low, Sedona and Pinetop-Lakeside. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
