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Readers Speak

Is our country

promoting division?

Dear Editor,

Yes, black lives do matter. History is eloquent with slavery and lynching. The precious lives of innocent school children matter. The lives of Hispanics who are detained and murdered matter. The lives of white people who are killed matter. The war veterans who suffer and live on the streets matter. The lives of adults and children who live in poverty matter. Need I continue?

Yet, after each and every atrocity the out cry is deafening until you don’t hear it, much like the passing of a thunder storm. Suddenly, all is once again normal.

Why? In my judgment the people want change, however the elected and re-elected politicals at every level of government have neither the skill, aptitude nor the fortitude to enact legislation to address the problems, or to express their voice least they lose their position, and more important, to listen to the people most affected by the trauma. Likewise, the rest of us want and demand a “United States of America.” It’s time to get rid of this crazy notion of “Red and Blue” states.

We are all Americans. Where is our leadership from each and every recent Oval Office? Please tell all of us.

I for one am listening.

M.J. Shanshala,

Warren

Encouraging dialogue

in trying times

Dear Editor:

I watched the murder of George Floyd on the evening news recently. These incidents of assaults on black men seem to be happening with regularity.

We also see children in cages on our southern border, and fear and hatred of other races and religions being encouraged, by the Trump administration. It seems COVID-19 is not the only deadly virus in our midst. The racism and white supremacy virus is doing great harm as well.

The Vatican and the U.S. bishops have written a number of pastoral letters condemning this evil. In the USCCB 1979 letter “Brothers and Sisters to Us,” they state that “racism is a sin.” They further state, “The absence of personal fault for an evil does not absolve one of all responsibility. We must seek to resist and undo injustices we have not caused, lest we become bystanders who tacitly endorse evil and so share in guilt for it.”

It is good that these letters have been written, but how many Christians are aware of them. So I am wondering how we might encourage dialogue, raise awareness, and transform hearts and minds, unmask this evil, and put it at a great distance from us.

Neil Himber,

Youngsville

Times now similar to the 1960s, ’70s

Dear Editor,

The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, when considering the violence at Kent State, Jackson State, and Berkeley in the year 1968, predicted that “If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”

These words very much apply to our own times, now, as we hope to survive the months remaining before national elections. This time around, we all deserve well qualified, competent leaders, who know how to appoint qualified and competent department heads with congressional approvals. This is not too much to seek or to deserve in our new, upcoming government.

Oran Stewart,

Warren

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