Letters to the Editor
Nuttshell
Published Letters: 28 Editor's Choice: 4
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Do a little research - why don't ya
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]THE ONLY COUNTINENT in the world where slavery is on-going is AFRICA.
ProudTexasGirl
I know you are not the sharpest knife in the drawer but please do a little research before you write such nonsense. There is sexual slavery being practiced in this country. There is slavery being practiced in China, India, Cambodia, Russia, Nepal, as well in some countries in Africa. In Sudan, with the backing of the Chinese, the Arab Northerners are enslaving the black Africans in the South. In fact, there was a black family in MS who was being held as slaves into the 90's. Slavery has probably been practiced in nearly every country on the planet at some time or another. I can recommend two sites Free The Slaves.net and iAbolish.com for your edification. I doubt you'll look into it because you relish your ignorance.
I recognize that in your business you see some of the most desperate and pathetic people of every background but you choose to focus on the black ones. Your bigotry allows you to lump all black people in with the irresponsible ones that you see in your line of work. I own rental property and I've had my share of deadbeats. I've had more non-black deadbeats than black ones (very few in fact) but I don't cast aspersions on their ethnic or racial group. I've noticed that the chronically poor have a different mindset about things. Some of it is their own fault because they make the same bad mistakes time and time again and in some cases it's generational. They've not seen responsible living and thinking because that's how their parents operated as well.
I don't have any problem calling you a racist because you don't see us as people deserving of your respect or understanding. You've labeled us and written us off, even the ones who are successful and making our way in the world. Your white privilege doesn't allow for you to see Barack Obama as someone equal to you or other whites.
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Let's give Scotty some credit for rejecting the Kool-aid
[Read the article: A Scott McClellan flashback]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the left is happy to hear an insider confirm all the things that many of us always suspected, they too are piling on like the wing-nuts. I applaud McClellan because it's not easy to blow-up the world you've inhabited from birth. People are calling him names from coward to snitch to weasel. Admittedly, he was a part of the problem but we have to stop thinking that many of the foot soldiers in the Bush Army are motivated to do evil. They have been convinced that what they are doing is for the greater good. They are religiously fervent but hopelessly misguided. I liken a lot of these people to cult members. Once you become a true believer, it's difficult to see or accept when your leaders and colleagues are doing illegal, immoral and illicit acts. Yes, it's cognitive dissonance but most of us practice it at some times in our lives. Once Scott realized that not only was this Administration lying to the country (which I'm sure they justified for the foot soldiers) but was also willing to lie to him and manipulate him to lie without his consent, the dissonance became unbearable. Writing this book is probably his form of purgative. The larger story for me is the indictment and the comeuppance McClellon gives the impotent media. Look how they are squealing trying to rewrite history.
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Gifted though she may be -- Alice Walker is a shitty mother
[Read the article: The mother-daughter wars]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While many pay homage to the Great Alice Walker, there doesn't seem to be much empathy for her daughter. Alice Walker is well known for her insightful, well-rounded female characters. She provides searing insights into their psyches and pain and yet has not a bit of concern for her own flesh and blood. And the fact that the author and many other posters cannot relate to the daughter is breath-taking to me.
How dare anyone show the Great Woman has clay feet. Rebecca's "betrayal" is harshly rebuked because it is hard to accept that an idol could be such a crappy human being. And because her mother has put so much of herself out there publicly, I believe it's only natural that Rebecca respond to her publicly. Alice Walker thinks very little of motherhood as do some second-wave feminists and yet Rebecca is the one denounced for failing to pay enough respect to her mother. Wow, the hypocrisy is astounding.
The author states "I can only imagine the pain of being an artist in thrall to her muse and an activist in service to the world's pain rejected for the more traditional mother/stepmother. Choosing the white over the black family -- come on, this has gotta hurt." Rebecca's not choosing her white mother over her black mother, Alice made the choice for her. Children are hard-wired to want their mother's attention and affection. It is the indifference and abuse that finally beat it out them. As the black mother of a bi-racial daughter, I am appalled that Alice would leave her daughter so alone. It's brutal growing up black and female in this culture. Without the comfort and advise of black women, I could easily have been an insecure, pathetic victim of domestic violence. That's the thing I have such a hard time grappling with. Alice Walker is a feminist icon who happens to be black. She knows how hard it is for black women to feel worthy and to leave her daughter to the wolves is unconscionable. Also, when the author writes "The children of greatly talented public figures, as Alice surely is, are often sacrificed to the Great Work…great women are never forgiven for making a single mistake", Walker is too easily forgiven and she made a number of mistakes including disowning her daughter for making the right choice for herself.