About

What is Continue To Serve? 

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On June 1st, 2020, as a group of peaceful protestors gathered in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., speaking out for a noble cause, the nation watched as law enforcement officers unlawfully cleared them out with tear gas, rubber bullets, and unnecessary, illegal brute force. As Blackhawk helicopters hovered over our nation’s capital city, military and police patrolled the streets of D.C. like a warzone. All this, so a fascist president could take a picture in front of a church he'd never entered. The very next day, to show our support for the Americans who were being beaten and arrested simply for expressing their First Amendment right to protest, a ragtag group of veterans, complete strangers, took to the streets for the first time.

 

We’ve heard this question a lot from reporters: “How, as a veteran-based organization, are we different from the alt-right, fascist groups that say they are upholding their oath to the Constitution? How can we both be doing that when our views could not possibly be more diametrically opposed?”

 

Continue To Serve’s motto is Remember Your Oath. When this first started, our founder didn’t know about the alt-right, militant groups that would eventually storm the Capitol Building. For some time now, there has been discussion about changing this motto. And perhaps, one day we will. But there is a fundamental difference between us and those who perpetrated the insurrection on January 6th. 

 

We, at Continue To Serve, remember that our country’s history is littered with horrible atrocities, from slavery to internment camps to women’s rights. We choose to defend ALL of the Constitution, not just the parts that are convenient to those wishing to curtail freedom and democracy. We remember that ALL people are created equal. We remember that black lives matter. We remember that we were all, at one point, immigrants to this land. We remember that women’s rights are not to be legislated, but ensured. We remember that we should all be free to love, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. We remember that we swore to protect ALL who reside in the United States. We swore to protect their freedoms and their liberties by upholding our oath to the Constitution. 

 

While those who stormed the Capitol screamed allegiance to the Constitution, they forgot (or simply ignored) that their actions were fundamentally unlawful, preventing the peaceful transition of power and expressly against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. They forgot that they were serving their own desires and not serving the people of this great, though flawed, nation. These groups thrive on ignorance, inspire hatred, and are not fighting for  freedom and democracy for all, but rather ensuring only their beliefs are protected.

To remember our oath, we at Continue To Serve, believe that our country can always be better. We don’t want to make America great again. Our nation’s past was never greater than what its future can be. We want to make America better than it’s ever been. We serve those who reside in this country, not to ensure our own beliefs, rather to ensure that everyone has the freedom to live what they believe in a just and equal system, as our Constitution is written.

 

Our oath is to the Constitution. Not to one ideal. Not to one religion. Not to one man or woman in office. This is the difference. This is why we are needed. This is why we Continue To Serve.