I did not like being called a liar by ​​Marc Petitpierre. I did not like when he talked to me about what I didn’t want to listen to. His refusal to honor the police request, to stay off the street during rallies, annoyed everyone.

But I know he raised money into five figures for UNICEF, “for the children,” as he kept saying. I saw UNICEF’S letters. I did not donate enough. I know he stood on his feet every week for years, to be a presence for a better world. I remember when he said to me that he carried no personal signs and walked within the invisible lines at the Constitution Day Parade, “because [the Constitution] was what it was all about.”

Tabitha Johnston’s profile of him in this paper has more for us to know about him than the complainers — including myself – often thought of.

Many in Shepherdstown are outraged and ready to challenge ICE if necessary, to help all of the immigrants who might need it. Marc was likely one of those immigrants fearing ICE, as he had recently been talking to a few people about self-deporting to Switzerland, which he now says he has done, even though he was living here legally. So, Marc may be collateral “ICE melt,” so to speak, melted by paranoia to avoid any possible encounter. How sad and sadly ironic to see this happen.

Here’s what Marc became for me: an embodiment of the “Other,” the infamous Other, the one where our understanding stands still; who challenges our unacknowledged prejudices; who may be the limit of our public democratic empathy. One I could never fully understand nor be close to, but whom I defend because he exists – in my face, in our faces.

Marc couldn’t seem to get “no satisfaction” — cue the song — on the streets of West Virginia, but I hope he will find peace in Switzerland. Happy trails, Marc.

Mark Kohut, of Shepherdstown