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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 11, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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May 11, 2020
 
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Page A-4 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, June 11, 2020 THESE What’s going on, yet again ess more Mrs. Ericson I am a white male, the descen— dent of Scandinavian and Scottish ancestors, mostly. I was born this way. I am also a human being. I was born that way, too. We can’t be absolutely certain of this, but it’s likely any of us could have been born a black female, a brown male or a white baby with male and fe- male genitalia —— or any variation of any color or sex that you’ll find on this spinning blue marble. Per- By KIRK ERICSON haps yOu or I could have been born as an albino female sea turtle. We appear to be not in any way responsible for the make and mod— el of the corporeal vehicle given to us at birth. ' Why should it be then, in the land of the world’s oldest con- tinuously active constitution, that a tilt toward the black side of the color spectrum automati— cally makes you far more likely to be imprisoned, unemployed or dying of COVID-l9? If you’re a black male, “the talk” by a parent likely will be about the risks posed by police, not sex, and you’ll be warned never to be late because a black person who is in a hurry is an extra suspicious black person. Doesn’t all that seem funda— mentally unfair, especially when we have the capacity to make it fundamentally fairer? Doesn’t it seem lopsided, like black people are on one side of the dodge ball game and the other side gets to start with twice as many balls? So when many people in this nation saw a black man, George Floyd, die under the knee of that cold—as—an-icepick white Minne- apolis police officer, they saw red. The sight of that man’s suffering, coupled with the heartlessness of his killer, was so piercing that it cut through all the other concerns in these hard times. The fire has since spread across this coun- try from megalopolises to small towns, including Shelton. . Patricia Franco, Linda Guijosa and Jodie Hartman grew up in Shelton, graduating from Shelton High school in 2010, and all three are 28 years old. They organized the march Sunday, May 31, that drew an estimated 300 people into their hometown for a peaceful march downtown. Siplteamnwoumnnip lifetime! ' The Shelton—Mason County Jour- nal is a member of the Wash- ington Newspaper Publishers USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, P.O. Box 430. Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal at 227 .W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone: 360-426—4412 Website: www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. “We grew up and went to school together in Shelton and have seen many perspectives impact our community both positively and negatively,” Jodie said, relaying a quote that the three of them worked up."‘And we recognize, value and support the Black Lives Matter movement and re- ally wanted to bring our community in Shelton to- gether to demonstrate our solidarity. We are tired of seeing black people murdered and targeted We want change that ad- dresses the hundreds of years of injustices toward black individuals.” She said it was the big- gest protest march she’s seen in Shelton. Considering that only 1% of Mason County’s popu- lation is black, according to the 2010 Census, 300 people turning out testifies to the dimensions of this unrest sWeeping the world. “We had mixed emotions about whether it would get much trac— tion," Jodie said, adding that “We wanted people to keep it safe and respectful. We wanted» respectful role models and we wanted people to wear black because it’s the color of mourning and it shows our sup- port for Black Lives Matter.” She said last week that they don’t have plans at the moment for a follow—up event, but that “People want to connect with us. Perhaps it’ll be consistent events or even a discussion in the com- munity.” The royalty of this nation must be unnerved by the depth, dura- tion and breadth of these protests. Regardless of whether you believe the demonstrations are more riot than protest, these marchers, now nearing their third week on the line, are clearly fueled by a righteous faith. They are carrying on with fearlessness and a grim determination. In the meantime, listen, and notice when the silence over— whelms the noise, especially dur- ing those moments when protests go silent to summon the final suf- fering of George Floyd. “I think we all got some goose- bumps when we took one minute of silence” during the Shelton rally, Jodie said. “People who were passing by were moved by the si- lence of that many people.” I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@ ‘ masoncounty.com. Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $62 per year ($43 for six months) for Mason County addresses and $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. because of their skin color.’ Media matters Editor, the Journal Listening to the leftists on CNN, MSNBC, etc., the president is responsible for the shopping methods of some of the people in this country. If anyone cares who stirred these animals up, blame KOMO, KIRO, KING, CNN, MSNBC, etc. They had the police inci- dent and a very sad death showing every 10 minutes for hours. FOX was much more dignified in its approach. Dick Reineman Shelton President, get-er-done Editor, the Journal Consider this: when you think the president is a jerk, he is. He’s a New Yorker and can be crude and rude. When he gets his feelings hurt, he hits back harder. The me- dia hates it when he tweets because he gets information out they don’t want to report on. He demands performance and if you don’t work hard to deliver, you’re fired. Here is a guy that asks ' a lot of questions. They are hard, “why” type of ques- . tions. These questions are to get people thinking on the problem and the left Publisher: Tom Mullen Advertising: John Lester, general manager Theresa Murray, ad representative Newsroom: Adam~Rudnick, editor in chief Gordon Weeks, reporter Justin Johnson, sports/outdoors editor Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ proofreader Lloyd Mullen, creative director lsabella Breda, reporter LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Journal Letter Policy The Journal encourageS-original letters to the editor of local interest. Diverse and varied opinions are welcomed. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature. All letters mustbe signed and include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number, which will be used for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. To submit a letter, email adam@masoncounty.com, drop it off at 227 W. Cota St., or mail it to R0. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. does not want that. He’s a guy that gets hospital ships ready in one week when the hand wring- ing bureaucrats would take weeks or months. He’s the guy that got auto industries to restruc- ture to build ventilators in a business that’s highly regu- lated by agencies that move at the pace of banana slugs. He’s the guy that asked the question about using proven drugs on dying people. What did they have to lose? He restricted travel from China with the Democrats and liberals screaming, “xenophobia” and “racist.” Now they want to know why he didn’t act sooner. ' Could it be everyone was focused on impeachment? He campaigned on se- curing the Southern border, protecting America, in the face of screaming Demo- crats and liberal media. Whenhe shut the borders in the midst of the Wuhan virus they screamed louder. ' Then the world followed, including.the European ' Union, with travel restric- tions between their mem- Front oflice: . Dave Pierik, circulation and classifieds manager Delivery: Jon Garza David Olson- Niel Challstrom Composing room: William Adams, advertising and technical support ber countries. His policy is America first. For a long time we have complained about bil- lions of dollars in foreign aid while many Americans here suffered. He has stemmed much of that out- flow of money. ’ He’s made mistakes. Ev- eryone has, and does, and the “experts” haven’t done any better. Does he change his mind? Yes, who doesn’t? Trump is working for the best interests of Americans. . When he offers hope, he’s called a liar and when he is straightforward, they say he should be more hopeful. Of course, it’s a 'no-win situ- ation with MSNBC, main- stream media and CNN. I’ll take this kind of lead-‘ ership over a “polished, nice guy” politician who reads prepared speeches from a teleprompter and answers prescripted questions, or a mentally feeble fading star of the Democratic Party. Frederick Nachbar SheltOn see LETTERS, page A-s All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. To submit a letter to the editor, email adam@masoncounty.com.