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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 17, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 17, 2020
 
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Page A-6 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020 LETTERS, continued from? page A-t‘i White privilege Editor, the Journal, I’m hearing a lot about “white privilege” these days. As my daughter explained to me, white privilege is the concept that all white people have a societal advantage over people of color that they benefit from without knowing it. That all white people need re—education classes to learn to feel guilty about this, admit that they are prejudiced, and be forced to make it up to the people of color somehow. Having grown up in California where kids of all sizes, shapes, genders and skin colors learned and played togeth- er, this concept is pretty strange. I learned early that there are good and bad, smart and dumb, hard-working and lazy, kind and mean people on the playground in every skin color. Google’s dictionary defines prejudice as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience: “prejudice against people from dif- ferent backgrounds.” It seems to me that white people currently are expe- riencing prejudice in that all of them are being judged guilty because some behave badly or have more stuff than some people of color. (I admit I am prejudiced. In ab- sence of other evidence I make certain assumptions about people’s intelli- gence and threat level based on how they are dressed. As a 50—something white female, I admit that I will cross the road to avoid encountering someone of any gender or skin color wearing their pants down around their behind, with tattoos prominently showing and a hat on backwards. That person may be a Harvard grad, first in their class, but I have no way of know- ing that because they are dressed like a gang member). , Let me tell you about my “white privilege.” I was born into a tradition- al family. My parents married young and waited to have kids. My dad joined the Navy, studied hard and be- came an orthodontist. My mom got to leave hersecretarial job and be a stay— at-home mom. My dad worked 10-hour days for years'to build his business, providing a living for four employees also. My parents lived below their means, stayed out of debt and saved every dollar they could. They stayed married to each other through thick and thin. Our family was not idyllic, but both parents did a good job teach- ing me the value of work and didn’t give me anything I could earn for my- self. They taught me self-discipline, traditional Christian morality, joy of service for others: things that have been passed on to my children and their kids. Because of their sacrifices they could help me when I wanted to go to-school, when I got married, and when we bought our first house. I hear some say that intergenerational wealth is an evil. It is not. It is a blessing. Without it children and the elderly are left to the tender mercies of the state. My heart aches for every child today growing up without the advantages I had. Every child should be safe, valued and mentored. But these are not magical advantages that occur based on skin color. These bene- fits happened because of choices made by my parents every day for years. They had no special advantages. The choices they made are available to every US. citizen today.“ These are social and moral choices that only in- dividuals can make for themselves. I ' refuse to accept illegitimate guilt over the results of life-choices made by my ‘. parents and grandparents. Instead of chest-beating and throwing ashes on our collective heads, wouldn’t it be more productive to turn our empathy and acéumulated wealth toward mak- ing sure that every child gets to grow up like I did? If we go back to valuing things like personal responsibility, self-sacrifice, long-term gain over instant gratification, service above self and merit-based rewards, we will transform our society in a way that Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln and our founders envisioned. . Brenda Windom Shelton" Fly the Russian flag Editor, the Journal, The Journal published a picture of a lifted pickup truck with rock— throwing oversize tires sporting a Trump flag and an American flag. I keep seeing Trump followers flying American flags, which is really quite disturbing. They really should be fly- ing a flag consisting of the Russian Federation. That’s much more ap— propriate for Trump and his acolytes given his decades-long connection to mother Russia, and his devotion to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the polonium-210 and Novichok-armed dictator. While Trump repeatedly screams “no collusion‘,” there is a vast trove of evidence showing his decades— long money—laundering connection with the Russians, and it appears that he is likely in financial debt to Putin and his oligarch vassals and thus is a Russian asset. So Trump worshipers please fly the appropriate flag and stop disrespecting the Stars and Stripes. ’ Martin Felix Shelton We can handle the truth Editor, the Journal, In‘response t0,AA.’s Sept. 10 rambling, almost incoherent fantasy about some made-up female rioter in Seattle, he suddenly pivots and asks the question, what has former Vice President Joe Biden done for the past 35 years? Well A.A., Mr. Biden has unselfisth dedicated his life to public I service. In that sa'me time period, I 'ask you A.A., what has the Donald done other than serve himself? Mak- ing as much money as he can while bragging'he'pays no taxes, building monuments dedicated to himself emblazoned with his name, enticing people to invest in his various vanity projects such as Trump University then filing bankruptcy to save him- self and leaving his fellow taxpaying citizens to lose out on both tuition and the education promised. When in fact he has filed bankruptcy six times, bailing himself out 'while leav- ing thousands of employees without jobs. His many business failures are well-documented, so why would you consider someone so inept at run- ning a business to run a country? Not to mention moral standards. Would Hillary Clinton have even been con- sidered as a' candidate had she had five children by three different men? The truth is the Donald has always been about himself and seemingly still is. Rather than putting Ameri- ~ can taxpaying citizens first, he has forgotten the president is a public servant and should be humbled by the trust placed in him. But Trump spends a lot of time talking about himself, beating his chest and calling everyone childish names. If he had been doing as good a job as he claims, his accomplishments would speak for themselves and would be enough to get him re—elected, rather than having to hold COVID-spreading rallies. In- stead, I see an insecure person trying desperately to hold on to a job that he sees as a prize to be won rather than a calling to serve his country. I see a person whose ego has not allowed him to relate to the true needs of the citizens he has promised to serVe. I see a president who blames everyone and anyone for any failures but takes all the credit for any success. I ask you, A.A., when is it OK for anyone in a position of responsibility to blame their failures on their predecessors? Any person holding a job four years that still blames every job holder be- fore them for their mistakes would be fired from that position. Why then, would we re-elect a president that does? As to the handling of the CO- VID-19 crisis, I personally believe we as a collective intelligent society can handle the truth. We don’t need to be protected from the boogie man, we need factual information in a calm manner backed up by a firm plan of action. It’s not necessary to “jump up and down” to get a message across. Our so—called leader has‘failed Ameri- ca there too. Patricia Hawley Shelton Well done, Shelton Editor, the Journal, Dearspeople of Shelton: I just want to say you are a perfect example of what community should look like. Although I do not live in Shelton, my husband was born in Shelton, I have friends and family there, and my in-laws have small businesses down— town..I was fearful for what would take place when I heard there would be protest in your small town, given what has taken place in other towns during protests. I watched several live feeds of the protest and saw the ' coverage. Sfiélmn'should be so proud of their small town. The men and woman of Shelton really came togeth- er, some even staying all night just to ensure businesses were kept safe. I would be proud to call Shelton home. ’ Lauralee Cederlund A poem of bigotry Editor, the Journal, . Being sequestered these past months afforded me the opportunity to sort through the many boxes of papersone can accumulate over the years and then relegate to an attic. Amongsome college papers on cre- ative writing, I found a clipping of a poem that was sent to columnist Abigail Van Buren (better known as “Dear Abby”). I’ve had the clipping for quite some time and the paper is deeply yellowed now. The letter from Stuart decried what he felt was the tragic rebirth of bigotry today, here and elsewhere. “Whenever I hear about intolerance, I’m reminded of an old poem (I do not know the author). It made me think. Perhaps it will touch one of your other readers as well.” It was signed, George R. Goldie IV, Oxnard, California. Dear Abby’s response was: “Dear George: The poem is long, but it’s well worth space in this column. Read on:” . THE COLD WITHIN Six humans trapped in happen- stance ‘ In dark and bitter cold, . Each one possessed a stick of wood, Or so the story’s told. , Their dying fire in need of logs The first woman held hers back, For of the faces around the fire, She noticed one was black. The next man looking across the way Saw not one of his church, And couldn’t bring himself to give The fire his stick of birch. The third one sat in tattered clothes He gave his coat a hitch, Why should his log be put to use, To warm the idle rich? The rich man just sat back and thought 0f the wealth he had in store, And how to keep what he had earned, From the lazy, shiftless poor. The black man’s face bespoke re- venge As the fire passed from sight, For all he saw in his stick of wood Was a chance to spite the white. The last man of this forlorn group Did naught except for gain, Giving only to those who gave, Was how he played the game. The logs held tight in death’s still hands Was proof of human sin, They didn’t die from the cold with- out, They died from the cold within. With all that is happening around the world and in our country, it is my fervent hope that his poem might re- mind us all of the need for tolerance. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl A. Dunning Shelton Trump is a blight Editor, the Journal, ' Friday, the president honored the dead from 9/11 by giving one of the most robotic speeches in presidential history. He displayed the emotion of an El Paso resident stepping on a cockroach. And, npw, over 190,000 US. residents have died of CO- VID—19, and he acts just as empathic. Just ask the family and friends of the 190,000 if they think it’s a Democratic hoax or fake news. Turning to history —— for over six decades, Republicans have catatoni- cally frothed at the mouth over the evil Soviet Empire (Star Wars?) And, now, Russia is led by a former offiv- cial of the KGB, Vladimir Putin, who makes Darth Vader look like a Jesuit monk. What happened to all the Re- publicans who voted for Eisenhower, Reagan and two Bushes? It seems that Vladimir has Donald firmly by the wallet, or maybe a couple of his body parts, too. So, Donald has be- come the highest-level Russian spy in the history of the Cold War and be- yond. Remember, the Soviets couldn’t beat us in the nuclear arms race or with industrial productivity so they are “over-cybering” us, such that the story lines of the books “1984” and “BraVe New World” are coming true. . The vast majority of my Republi- can friends are totally grossed out by the Donald, who can’t be a gentleman, ' verifiably cheats at golf, lies all the time (verified by a broad spectrum of experts in many fields, thousands of times) and has a total lack of empathy (i.e., John McCain and the war dead are “total losers”). But that attitude stems from the parenting he received from his dad, Fred. All you have to ' do is read his niece Mary Trump’s book about the family pathology, or a number of other “insider” books or interviews about what Donald Trump is really like. Think Bolton, Mattis, Cohen, etc. ENUF said, please do your read- ing, and vote in November like the future of our country depends on it. William Busacca ' Shelton see page A-7