To the editor:

When I was in high school and college, I remember reading about the KGB breaking into the homes of Russian families in the middle of the night, guns drawn, ransacking possessions, and terrorizing families. I remember being horrified when I read that a parent could be violently dragged off by armed KGB officers while the children of that parent screamed and cried. I remember reading that many of those children never saw or heard from that parent again. I remember being enraged when I read that KGB officers would go into workplaces and arrest people who had dared to speak out against the evil and violence they saw happening around them. I remember how those people were sent to jails or work camps as an example to quell dissent. I remember being incredulous when I learned that television was state run and only aired news that supported the government’s actions. I remember being perplexed that such a small number of people in such a large country could get away with these things and no one tried to stop them from happening. I remember being so thankful that I lived in America because those things would never happen here, because we were a democracy. Are we still?

MicheLe Larson

Marshall