Description

I visited the beach in Ventnor, Nj this past Sunday. It was a quiet and relaxing experience for the first few hours. Shortly thereafter, 2 men began setting up a tent and at least 20 chairs in a circle. Although there was a lot of space in other areas, they very close to me and a friend of mine so we had to move. We also happened to be the only minorities on the beach for quite a distance. The 2 men began drinking beers (liquid courage). When more members of their party arrived, one of the 2 borrowed some sort of hammer from a vendor and set up an American, Irish, and Trump 2020 flag. They stated that they intended to be there all night. Given the racial climate in our country, we found their gestures to be offensive and threatening. This cause me great disappointment and frankly, anger. The beach for most is a calming, happy place. Instead, my friend and I were essentially uprooted and decided to leave the beach. While there is freedom of speech, there was definitely an agenda here and it was fueled by hate and alcohol.