Flying off the handle

Dear Editor,

It’s interesting that with the racial, biological, and political turmoil that all of us are recently exposed to on a daily basis that an elected official in the Oval Office has yet to come forward to allay our concerns.

Rather, supercilious tweets from that office remind me of “Tweety Bird.” I did not mean to offend, no less, insult you Tweety. Sorry!

However, you get my point.

M.J. Shanshala,

Warren, Pa.

Facing history and reality

Dear Editor,

A few Fox News people have recently criticized President Trump’s policies and behavior. Likewise a few GOP legislators have broken ranks. The NFL, NASCAR and top military leaders (active and retired) have also spoken out.

Trump’s base (25 to 45 percent of Americans) fluctuates but holds. It is to that group that I write, especially to my friend with him I recently spoke.

I try to watch the PBS News Hour, Fox News and the Progressively slanted MSNBC News. I also do a lot of reading. I readily acknowledge my favoring the Progressive view but appreciate a well presented, factual based opposing point of view.

The following is an issue we touched during our recent conversation: Race relations, removal of Confederate symbols, monuments, statues, policing, Trump’s reaction.

Most statues were erected between the 1890s and 1920s during the Jim Crow Era. Progressives view them as visual reminders to the blacks that the blacks were on the far bottom of the pecking order; “White Citizens Committees” ran things. Lynchings were a common occurrence and black voter denial kept the white minority in power. You (the Trump Base) stated ‘they’ are part of our history and should be retained. The United States military, NASCAR and NFL have recently abolished open display of CSA symbols. Congress is considering doing the same with the CSA related statues within the national Capitol building. Blacks do not want these reminders. They prefer monuments reflective of their struggle and history, such as the Montgomery, Alabama Lunching Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. — places that tell their story, not mere visual “bumper sticker slogans.”

You echoed the Fox spokesmen, when you said “Removal is OK if done legally and without anyone getting hurt, such as the Portsmouth, Va. man who had the Jefferson Davis statue fall on him.” That 30 some year old man was struck on his head by the toppled statue and taken to a local hospital. A couple of days later, his condition was listed as stable. For your and for Fox News information, three years ago council voted to remove that statue ” as soon as a suitable re-location could be found.” The statue was erected in 1920, one year before the Tulsa, Okla., Race Massacre.

Also, for Fox News and your information, Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old Buffalo man police pushed to the sidewalk is also listed as being stable, though he, too, suffered head damage. Trump wrongly accused Gugino of being an “ANTIFA provocateur.” Gugino is a longtime advocate for affordable housing and racial justice. It seems to Trump an advocate for such action is a criminal.

Don Scott,

North Warren